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Rental property expense spreadsheet

By Maya Ellison - updated

A rental property expense spreadsheet is a log of every bill a property costs you: one row per expense, with the date, who you paid, the category, the Schedule E line and whether you kept the receipt. Download the CSV for Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers, or print the blank log and fill it in as the bills come in.

Download the free rental property expense spreadsheet

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The printable copy is blank, ready to fill in by hand or save as a PDF from your browser's print dialog. It is one landscape letter page with blank lines at the top for property, year, owner or company and bank account, and 16 rows with columns for date, payee, unit, description, category, schedule e line, amount, paid with and receipt saved, plus a totals row.

A filled-in expense spreadsheet

The Birch Lane duplex's 2025 operating expenses: 20 rows across eight categories, $13,030 in all. Property taxes of $4,920 were paid in two installments, insurance of $1,740 in one, and $2,860 of repairs over five jobs. Rent and other income came to $41,355, so NOI was $41,355 - $13,030 = $28,325, the same as in the chart of accounts guide. Mortgage interest ($17,320) and depreciation ($9,091) come from the lender's year-end statement and the tax preparer, so they are added once a year and stay out of NOI.

DatePayeeCategorySchedule E lineAmount
1/15/2025County treasurerProperty taxes16$2,460.00
2/10/2025PlumberRepairs14$395.00
3/1/2025Insurance companyInsurance9$1,740.00
3/20/2025Tax preparerLegal and other professional fees10$650.00
3/31/2025City water utilityUtilities17$270.00
4/22/2025RooferRepairs14$1,150.00
5/3/2025Hardware storeSupplies15$145.00
6/30/2025Lawn care companyCleaning and maintenance7$300.00
6/30/2025City water utilityUtilities17$270.00
7/8/2025Listing siteAdvertising5$120.00
7/9/2025Appliance repairRepairs14$240.00
7/15/2025County treasurerProperty taxes16$2,460.00
7/31/2025Cleaning serviceCleaning and maintenance7$450.00
9/15/2025Fence contractorRepairs14$765.00
9/30/2025Lawn care companyCleaning and maintenance7$300.00
9/30/2025City water utilityUtilities17$270.00
10/12/2025Hardware storeSupplies15$165.00
11/4/2025HVAC technicianRepairs14$310.00
11/30/2025Lawn care companyCleaning and maintenance7$300.00
12/31/2025City water utilityUtilities17$270.00
Total$13,030.00

When to use an expense spreadsheet

Use one from the first bill you pay for a property, and add each expense the week you pay it, while the receipt is still in hand. At the end of each month the log totals your costs by category, and at the end of the year the same totals copy across to Schedule E and into the NOI and cash flow math.

The expense log is the cost side of your books. The rent ledger records what each tenant owes and pays, and a chart of accounts sets the categories both of them use. Keep one log per property, or one log for every property with a Property column, so each total belongs to one building.

What a rental property expense spreadsheet should track

  • The date you paid the expense.
  • The property, and the unit when the cost belongs to one unit.
  • The payee: the vendor, utility, insurer or tax office you paid.
  • A short description of what the money was for.
  • The category, using the same names as your chart of accounts.
  • The Schedule E line the category totals to, such as line 14 for repairs.
  • The amount.
  • How you paid: bank transfer, card or check.
  • Whether the receipt or invoice is saved, and where.

How to use this rental property expense spreadsheet

The CSV holds one year of operating expenses for the invented Birch Lane duplex, the same property and totals as our chart of accounts guide, with blank rows for your own. The printable log fits on a landscape letter-size page, with fields at the top for the property and year and sixteen lines for expenses.

  1. Download the CSV or the printable log below, and start a new copy for each year.
  2. Pick your categories once. The Schedule E expense lines, from advertising on line 5 to utilities on line 17, cover most rental costs.
  3. Add a row for each expense when you pay it, with the date, the payee, the category and the amount.
  4. Note how you paid and save the receipt, so each row can be matched to your bank statement.
  5. At the end of each month, total the Amount column by category and check it against the bank account the property uses.
  6. At the end of the year, hand the category totals to your tax professional, with the lender's interest statement and your depreciation schedule.

Common expense spreadsheet mistakes

  • Logging the whole mortgage payment as an expense. Only the interest is an expense; the principal pays down the loan.
  • Mixing personal and rental costs. A trip to the hardware store for your own home stays out of the log.
  • Calling an improvement a repair. A new roof or a new water heater is usually depreciated over years, so ask your tax professional where it goes.
  • Leaving the receipt for later. Save it when you add the row, or note where it is.
  • Changing category names mid-year. Similar costs then land in different places and the totals stop matching the form.

Frequently asked questions

What expenses can I track for a rental property?

Track every cost of owning and running the property: advertising, cleaning and maintenance, insurance, professional fees, management fees, mortgage interest, repairs, supplies, property taxes and utilities. Schedule E has a line for each. Your tax professional can confirm what you can deduct and when.

How do I organize rental property expenses?

Give every expense a date, a property and a category, and use the same category names all year. Categories that match the Schedule E lines make the year-end totals easy to copy across, and our chart of accounts guide lists a full set.

Should I keep a separate spreadsheet for each property?

Either works. One log per property keeps each building's totals apart. One log for all of them with a Property column lets you filter by property and still see a portfolio total.

How long should I keep rental property receipts?

The IRS generally asks you to keep records that support a return for at least three years after you file it, and longer in some cases, such as records for property you still own and depreciate. Ask your tax professional what applies to you.

Expenses that come in from your bank feed

KeyRing brings in your transactions through a Plaid bank feed, lets you match each one to an expense, split it or create the record from it, and keeps income and expense records with categories you can edit. Snap a receipt and KeyRing reads it into an expense for you to confirm. Your first subscription starts with a 14-day free trial.

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