Tax deductions for landlords and rental property owners, in plain language.

What is in the checklist?

Questions, not tax code. Each line asks whether you paid for something — an office, a phone, a licence, a meal with a client — and tells you what counts, what only counts partly, and what to watch. Where the arithmetic is simple, the sheet does it. Where it is not, such as equipment, mileage and the home office, you enter what you paid, and the sheet tells you to ask about the specifics, because the answer depends on your circumstances.

Three tabs: the checklist itself, the things people assume count and do not, and the records to keep so that every line survives a question from a tax agency.

What do landlords and rental property owners routinely miss?

• Depreciation. The largest deduction a rental has, and the one skipped most often by people who prepare their own returns.
• Repairs filed as improvements, and the reverse. One costs you a deduction now; the other invites a correction later.
• Mileage to the property. Small trips add up across a year and are almost never logged.
• Turnover costs. Cleaning, screening and lock changes between tenants, paid in cash and forgotten.

None of these is exotic. They are missed because they are paid once a year, or land on the personal return instead of the business, or feel too close to personal life to claim. The checklist asks about each one directly.