Fair rental days

[Questionguy101]

There is a space to fill in the fair rental days in Schedule E this year.

If a property had been vacant for a period in 2011 but it was available for rental, do we count the vacant days as fair rental days?

For example, rental property was occupied from January to April. Tenant did not pay rent in April and moved out by the end of April. It was vacant in May and June when the landlord was looking for a new tenant. New tenant moved into the rental unit at the beginning of July and lived there until the end of the year. So

Jan - April: Occupied but tenant only paid rent from Jan to March. No rent was paid in April.
May - June: Vacant and landlord was looking for new tenant.
July - December: Occupied and rent paid.

So is the fair rental days:

275 (days that rental unit was occupied and rent had been paid.) or
305 (days that rental unit was occupied including the month of April that rent was not paid) or
365 (days that the property was used for rental whether it was occupied or vacant)?

I can't imagine something can get as confusing as such.

[Koss]

Days of Rental Use

Been there, done that.

See the earlier thread:

http://www.thetaxbook.com/forums/showthread.php?p=128770

BMK

[Questionguy101]

Been there, done that.

See the earlier thread:

http://www.thetaxbook.com/forums/showthread.php?p=128770

BMK

From your reply, may I take it to mean that the fair rental days in the above example should be 365?

Thank you BMK.

[Koss]

Rental Days

Yep, that's my take on it...

If it was a rental property all year, I would put in 365.

BMK

[Questionguy101]

Yep, that's my take on it...

If it was a rental property all year, I would put in 365.

BMK

Thank you and that's my interpretation too.

I think the purpose for the number of rental days is to allocate the property expenses in case the rental unit had been used for personal purpose during part of the year. So my interpretation is any days that were not for personal use are considered rental days.

[DaveO]

Rented at FMV or available to be rented at FMV is the way I read it. I think this question is directed at the owners of mixed use property such as vacation homes. If you have such a beast be sure to consider the Bolton method.

[MilTaxEA]

I thought it was the actual days rented at FMV since that is what is used to determine how much of your mixed-use expenses are deductible. When you first place a house into rental use, that date determines when the depreciation starts. If you have no mixed-use during the year, then all your expenses are deducted on Schedule E. However, if you use it for personal reasons after the property is placed into rental use, you have to take the days rented divided by (total days rented + personal days) to determine the percentage you can deduct on Schedule E (unless using the Tax Court method).