[GNC] Keeping tenant accounts on Gnucash - periodic 'rent owing' ?

[Liz]

On Fri, 4 Mar 2022 19:26:04 -0500
Glenn Fowler <gfowler1 at outlook.com> wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> I use GnuCash for rental properties as well. Setup your accounts under
> expenses for repairs, insurance, utilities, etc. In my case, I setup a
> recurring transaction for rental income. Then, you only need to make
> changes as needed instead of doing it manually every month.

You need to have some idea on the tax implications of your expenses.
In AU, this is where we start to rival North American sales tax ;)

So some expenses are recurring - like rates and insurance and are tax
deductible
Some expenses are general maintenance - the bills from the plumber and
electrician for callouts and are tax deductible
Some expenses are capital - when you decide to replace the kitchen
because it is wear and tear and scruffy, but not if it is seriously
damaged by floods (topical here), that would be maintenance or on the
insurance.

Some expenses can be sent back to the tenant to pay (here we charge
water usage to the tenant, but not if you didn't fix the leaky taps or
cistern)

Whether interest charges on the mortgage you have over the property are
expenses which are tax deductible or capital expenses depends on the
flavour of government - it seems to oscillate slowly here.

If you are not sure about the expenses, make lots of expense
subaccounts to keep them in general categories, and rationalise them
when you have had a chat with your accountant. In GnuCash its easy to
join subaccounts and tedious to split them.

Liz