Schedule E is used to report income or loss from rental real estate.  Real estate investors can also attach their own work sheet to show income received and expenses paid in connection with real estate investments.  Schedule E should be reviewed to understand the type of records to maintain during ownership and operation of real estate.  A Schedule E should be obtained for the year for which you owned and operated your real estate because the information required to be reported can change from year to year.

An “Instruction” booklet is also available to assist with completing Schedule E.  The Instruction booklet has a lot of term, definitions, explanations, and examples to help understand how to complete Schedule E.  In addition, the Instruction booklet has a lot of reference to other forms and publications that provide additional explanation of owning, operating, and reporting operations of real estate investments.

Part I of Schedule E is used to report income or loss from rental real estate.  Schedule C, Profit or Loss from Business can be used to report real estate ownership and operations for sole proprietors who are in the business of renting personal property.

Publication 527, Residential Rental Property has a lot of information on owing and operating rental property.  Publication 946, How to Depreciation Property has information on what depreciation is, depreciation methods, how to compute depreciation, and where to report a depreciation deduction.