The simplest way to keep several rental properties straight is to give each property its own income and expense records, and to sort every cost into repair, capital or private as it arrives rather than at year end. Costs shared across properties, or a loan that funded more than one thing, are then split on a basis you can explain and write down.
The details below are as at October 2026, from the ATO’s Rental properties guide 2026 (the latest edition available, NAT 1729) and related ATO pages, linked at the end. The guide is written for individuals who own rental properties. If a company or trust owns yours, the same categories generally apply, but the entity reports in its own return, so check with a registered tax agent.
One entity or several?
Who owns each property decides whose books it belongs in. For individuals, the ATO says rental income and expenses are attributed according to each owner’s legal interest in the property, whatever the co-owners may have agreed between themselves. Joint tenants each hold an equal interest, and tenants in common may hold unequal interests (for example 20% and 80%). The title deed shows which one applies.
Whether to hold properties in your own names, in a trust or in a company is a legal and tax decision for an adviser, not a bookkeeping one. What bookkeeping needs is that each property sits in the books of whoever actually owns it, with money kept in the right bank account. If you pay one property’s costs from another entity’s account, or from your personal account, record it as what it is, a payment on someone else’s behalf, so the books still add up.
Track each property separately
For every property, keep a running record of:
- Rent received. The ATO’s list of income records includes statements or rental records from your property or managing agent, and a rent book or bank statements showing the payments. Leases and any bond money you keep in place of rent also belong here.
- Expenses. For each one, the ATO says the record must show the supplier’s name, the amount, the nature of the goods or services, the date the expense was incurred and the date of the document. If a document doesn’t show a payment date, a bank statement can show it.
- The loan. Keep the loan documents and statements for each property’s borrowing.
The simplest layout is one set of income and expense accounts per property, or one tag per property on every line, so you can pull a profit and loss for each one. Properties that share a bank account or managing agent are where lines get mixed up, so allocate each line to its property when it arrives.
The ATO says to keep records of rental income and expenses for 5 years from 31 October, or from the date you lodge if you lodge later. Records for a property you sell have their own rules for capital gains, so ask your tax agent about those.
Repairs, improvements and initial repairs, in one place
This is the sorting that most often goes wrong, and it matters because the tax treatment differs. The ATO’s quick reference sorts the common situations like this:
| Situation | Category | How it is claimed |
|---|---|---|
| Replacing something worn out, damaged or broken while renting the property (fixing a leaking tap, replacing part of a fence damaged in a storm) | Repair | Repairs and maintenance |
| Preventing or fixing deterioration that happened while renting (repainting faded interior walls) | Maintenance | Repairs and maintenance |
| Repairing damage that existed when you bought the property, whether you knew or not | Initial repair | Capital works, written off at 2.5% over 40 years |
| Replacing an entire structure, or renovating or adding something new (an entire fence, a carport) | Capital works | Capital works |
| Installing a brand-new appliance or window covering (a dishwasher, blinds) | Depreciating asset | Capital allowances |
Two things follow for the books. First, record the nature of the work on the invoice or in the note, because “plumber $1,100” can be a repair or an improvement. Second, when one invoice covers both a replacement and a repair, ask the supplier for an itemised invoice. The ATO’s example is a toilet that is replaced (capital works) alongside a wall that is repaired (a repair); if the labour isn’t split on the invoice, it is apportioned on a fair and reasonable basis.
Initial repairs are not immediately deductible, and the ATO says no deduction can be claimed for initial repairs to depreciating assets. They also form part of the property’s cost base for capital gains tax in the cases the guide describes. So it is worth tagging early work on a newly bought property as its own category.
Apportioning shared costs and loans
Some costs belong to more than one property, or to more than one purpose.
- Costs covering several jobs or properties. Where an invoice covering two jobs doesn’t split the labour, the ATO’s guide apportions it on a fair and reasonable basis. Write the basis down when you split a shared cost (for example, per property or per job), so you can do it the same way next year.
- A loan used for more than one purpose. If a loan funded both a rental property and something private, the interest must be apportioned into deductible and non-deductible parts according to the amounts borrowed for each purpose. If the balance moves around with redraws and deposits, you must keep accurate records to work out the rental part. The ATO’s formula is total interest x (rental loan / total borrowings).
- Co-owned properties. Income and expenses follow legal interest, but if you borrowed to buy your own interest, the guide says you can claim all of the interest on your loan without dividing it with the co-owners. Charges only one owner incurred, such as borrowing expenses for their loan, are claimed by that owner.
- Private use. Where a property is partly for private use or wasn’t rented or available for rent, expenses are apportioned. The ATO has a separate guideline for individuals on apportioning rental deductions, PCG 2026/2.
What to have ready at year end
The ATO’s guide lists examples of records that make completing the return easier: loan documents, receipts for repairs, maintenance, insurance and depreciating assets, land tax assessments, credit card records, tenant leases, bank statements and rent records from managing agents. For several properties, that means a folder or a tagged set of records per property, plus a note of any capital items and any apportionment basis. Ask your tax agent or accountant for their own checklist, since they may want more.
A worked example
Dana owns two rental properties in her own name, a unit and a house, with a separate loan for each. The unit rents for $26,000 a year and the house for $31,200.
- Rent. Her managing agent sends a statement for each property, and she records each against that property.
- Mixed loan. The house loan is $420,000: $360,000 bought the house and $60,000 paid for a car for private use. At 6% the year’s interest is $25,200. The rental part is $25,200 x ($360,000 / $420,000) = $21,600.
- An invoice that mixes jobs. A tradesperson invoices the unit $2,200: $900 to replace a toilet and $1,300 to replaster and paint the wall around it. The toilet is capital works, the wall is a repair, so she records $1,300 in repairs and $900 as capital.
- An initial repair. Soon after buying the house she paid $3,000 to fix floorboards that were already damaged at purchase. That is an initial repair, written off as capital works at 2.5% over 40 years, which is $75 a year.
At year end she can give her accountant a profit and loss for each property, the loan statements, and the notes behind the $21,600 and the $900.
Questions
Do I need a separate bank account for each rental property?
The ATO’s record rules are about what each record shows, not how many accounts you hold. A separate account per property is one easy way to keep each property’s income and expenses apart, and tagging each line to a property is another.
Is a repair the same as an improvement?
No. A repair restores something that wore out or was damaged while you rented the property, and is claimed as repairs and maintenance. Improvements, renovations and initial repairs are capital, and are claimed over time or become part of the property’s cost base.
How do I split a loan used for a property and for something else?
The ATO says to apportion the interest according to the amounts borrowed for each purpose, and to keep accurate records if the balance moves with redraws. Its formula is total interest x (rental loan / total borrowings).
How long do I keep rental property records?
The ATO says 5 years from 31 October, or from the date you lodge if that is later, and longer if a dispute with the ATO about the property is not resolved.
Where Beans fits
With several properties, the hard part is getting every line into the right set of books. Beans keeps the books as you go: bank lines and receipts are recorded in the right entity’s books as they arrive, across several entities and your personal money, and receipts can be emailed in. It only asks when the call is yours to make, such as whether a cost is the property’s or personal.
Sources (all ato.gov.au, checked 15 October 2026): Rental properties guide 2026 (NAT 1729), Work out the category of your rental upkeep expenses, PCG 2026/2 Apportionment of rental property deductions.
General information, not tax advice.