Rental property records

You’ll need to keep accurate records for your residential rental property to calculate income and expenses.

You must keep rental records for at least 7 years, even if you no longer rent the property. Your records include:

bank statements, cheque butts and deposit books
working papers for all calculations
a list of all receipts and payments
invoices, transaction listings or statements showing income received where the property is rented through a management company or service provider such as Airbnb or Bookabach
invoices and receipts for expenses
a list of assets with receipts showing their purchase value and date
the rental agreement (if long-term tenancy)
any loan mortgage agreement
vehicle logbook (if vehicle expenditure is claimed).

It's easier if you use a separate bank account for your rental activity.

Short-term accommodation rental records

If you’re providing short-term accommodation (eg through Airbnb) you’ll also need to keep records to show:

the market rental per night (including dates of when this changed or increased over time)
the number of nights you rent out the room or property and how much income you receive for this
the number of nights the room or property is used privately (this includes you, or people associated with you)
the number of nights you rent out the room or property at ‘mates’ rates’ and how much income you received from this
any excess deductions.
evidence of when it was not rented but available to be rented out

You'll need to keep records showing the time your property is not rented out but still available to be rented.

Your records cannot be:

Your records need to show:

evidence of active, regular and effective marketing of the space at market rates
that it’s available at times and for periods that demonstrate it’s genuinely available to rent.

If the residential rental property deduction rules apply to your property, you'll need to keep records showing:

what basis you are electing for each property that you own
changes to the elected basis for your rental property, for example from the individual to the portfolio basis, and the year that change takes place
any excess deductions, and which property or portfolio those excess deductions relate to
transferred unused excess deductions (that's from one property or portfolio to another), what the amount transferred is, and when the transfer took place
when you disposed of a property, the date it took place, and if a property sale whether the sale taxable or not.

With residential rental property deductions you'll need to calculate what amounts should be included in your tax return. Keep records of the: