Are roommate expenses tax deductible?

New Mexico. I own the house I live in and rent out a bedroom and private bath. My roommate shares common areas: kitchen, laundry room, yard, dining room, etc. I declare the rental as income. How much of the utilities can I deduct? How about general repairs such as a roof leak? How much of the house value can I depreciate?What is the name of your state?

AndyPanda said:

New Mexico. I own the house I live in and rent out a bedroom and private bath. My roommate shares common areas: kitchen, laundry room, yard, dining room, etc. I declare the rental as income. How much of the utilities can I deduct? How about general repairs such as a roof leak? How much of the house value can I depreciate?What is the name of your state?

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I assume that you have a mortgage and are claiming the interest and real estate taxes on schedule A? If you are going to start claiming rental expenses, then you will have to divide the interest and real estate taxes between schedule A and schedule E....proportionally. As far as other expenses are concerned, again its proportional, and generally using a square footage basis is the best way to go.

Followup of Roommate Situation

Thanks for your reply. But I'm still unclear.

To be more precise, the house is 1300 sq ft (no garage) and the enclosed, landscaped back yard with chairs, table, etc. a couple of thousand sq ft. The roommate's exclusive area (bedroom and bath) is about 210 sq ft (16%), my exclusive area is about 350 sq ft (27%), and the remainder, 57%, is common area. The back yard is common area as well but has a 6x10 shed for my exclusive use to keep rakes, shovels, lawnmower, etc.

So if it costs me $100 to repair the furnace, how much of that is deductible on Schedule E?

AndyPanda said:

Thanks for your reply. But I'm still unclear.

To be more precise, the house is 1300 sq ft (no garage) and the enclosed, landscaped back yard with chairs, table, etc. a couple of thousand sq ft. The roommate's exclusive area (bedroom and bath) is about 210 sq ft (16%), my exclusive area is about 350 sq ft (27%), and the remainder, 57%, is common area. The back yard is common area as well but has a 6x10 shed for my exclusive use to keep rakes, shovels, lawnmower, etc.

So if it costs me $100 to repair the furnace, how much of that is deductible on Schedule E?

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What I think that you should really do is sit down with a local tax professional and discuss the ramifications of turning your primary residence into a partial rental property. There are both short and long term consequences that are better discussed in a face to face meeting, where questions can be asked and answered in real time.

However, to answer your question, you must decide how much of the square footage of your house that you can legitimately assign to your roommate, and then that percentage is what you would assigned to legitimate expenses in regards to your roommate.