Landlords - rental income taxes (low income, credit, how much)

[browncd81]

Renting out rooms in my house to roommates. Probably an idiot for doing this but I'm reporting my rental income as I'm supposed to. About to file on Turbo Tax and I realize in the state check that I'm missing a Tax ID number. So I do some digging and find that you have to set up a General Excise Tax ID number and pay your taxes monthly or quarterly on your rental income.

It's like the old saying, no good deed goes unpunished. I already swore off thousands of dollars on my tax return by reporting the rent in my income. But this seems like a big hassle to have to go and pay an excise tax on my rent collected last year.

Any other landlords on here doing this? How is the process to get the Tax ID number? I'm sure I'll need to go in the office and write a check for all the GE tax I didn't pay last year bc I wasn't aware it was taxed both as GE and ordinary income.

[whtviper1]

You can get the license online here:

https://hbe.ehawaii.gov/BizEx/home.eb

If I remember correctly you either get it immediately online or in the mail very quickly.

Pay what you owe - quite a few months later they'll tell you how much you are short and you can pay that online.

[rya96797]

don't forget to report it on your federal or state income tax returns as well.






Yeah it seems foolish until the feds/state find out that you haven't been reporting, and you owe massive tax penalties interest. what happens when your tenants try to file a low income tax credit or otherwise somehow it gets reported to the government that they're renting from you, and they cross reference it to you? What happens if you guys have a falling out, and they decide to report you for not filing the income?


you need to check with your accountant regarding the deductibility of expenses if you're renting out a part of your home. You'll likely need to figure out the portion of your house that's rented, and apply that proportion to all your home costs. The GET license & tax are probably 100% applied to your rental, as is any expenses directly related to that room you're renting. The rest of the stuff is proportional including expenses like depreciation, which you would not be able to take normally. Say you replace the refrigerator, normally you eat the full cost of it. But since you have renters, you can deduct a portion of it.


Again, check with your tax advisor. This post should not be construed as professional advice/opinion.

[rya96797]

Originally Posted by whtviper1

You can get the license online here:

https://hbe.ehawaii.gov/BizEx/home.eb

If I remember correctly you either get it immediately online or in the mail very quickly.

Pay what you owe - quite a few months later they'll tell you how much you are short and you can pay that online.

I think they email it to you mostly immediately, and also mail you the certificate.


Also off the top of my head, there's a slightly higher charge for doing it online versus paper.

[eureka1]

When I was renting out my duplex they set it up for me to pay the ET twice a year.