Property rental - What
expenses can be deducted from income?
If you rent out one or more rooms in your home, or if you own a rental
property, there are many expenses that can be deducted in calculating your net
rental income. These expenses include mortgage interest (but not
principal), property taxes, utility costs, house insurance, maintenance costs,
advertising, and property management fees. Rental
income and expenses are recorded using the accrual
basis of accounting. Rental losses can generally
be used to reduce income from other sources. If the rental loss exceeds
income from other sources, and cannot be deducted on the current year tax
return, it becomes a non-capital
loss, which can be carried back or forward to reduce
taxable income in other years.
If you rent out only a
portion of your home, you would only be able to deduct a portion of the
costs. If you rent a room to a friend or relative at less than fair
market value and this results in a rental loss, you would not be able to
deduct the rental loss.
Capital cost allowance (CCA) may be claimed based on the purchase price of
the building, furniture and fixtures, etc., but not the land, and may not be used to create or increase a
rental loss. If you only rent a portion of your home, then you would
only be able to claim a portion of the CCA, and this may result in the loss of
the principal residence exemption when you eventually sell your
home.
The claiming of capital cost allowance will probably result in a recapture
of the CCA when the property is sold. This will happen if the selling
price of the building is greater than the remaining undepreciated capital cost
(UCC) at the time of sale. The difference between the original cost and
the UCC will be added back to income. If the selling price is greater
than the original cost of the building, then the difference between the
selling price and the original cost will be a capital gain. When
purchasing or selling a rental property, it is important to break down the
purchase or sale price between buildings and land.
A change in use of your home from personal residence to rental property, or
from rental property to personal residence, can
result in a deemed disposition for tax purposes. This
means that you will be considered to have sold your home and repurchased it
immediately thereafter for fair market value. There are many factors
which affect this, and professional advice is recommended.
