Is this tool tax advice?

No. It organizes your ledger into IRS Schedule E categories for bookkeeping purposes only. It is not tax advice. Verify every line with a CPA or tax professional before filing.

Does my ledger data leave my computer?

No. All categorization happens in your browser with JavaScript. Nothing is uploaded, stored, or sent anywhere.

How are expenses matched to Schedule E lines?

The tool scores each transaction's description against keyword sets for each Schedule E expense line (auto & travel, cleaning & maintenance, commissions, insurance, legal & professional, management fees, mortgage interest, other interest, repairs, supplies, taxes, utilities, depreciation, other). Low-confidence matches are flagged for manual review, and every row can be recategorized with a dropdown.

What about repairs vs. improvements?

The tool cannot tell a deductible repair from a capital improvement that must be depreciated — that is a facts-and-circumstances call. Large projects (roofs, HVAC systems, additions) usually must be capitalized and depreciated over time, not expensed. Flag big-ticket items for your CPA.

Rent Ledger → Schedule E Categorizer

Paste your rent ledger (or upload a CSV) and get every transaction auto-sorted into IRS Schedule E lines — rents received, repairs, taxes, insurance, management fees, mortgage interest, and the rest — with per-line totals, manual overrides for anything the auto-match gets wrong, and a printable summary you can hand to your CPA. No sign-up, no upload: everything runs in your browser.

NOT TAX ADVICE — verify every line with a CPA before filing. This tool organizes your bookkeeping into Schedule E categories; it cannot know your facts and circumstances. Repairs vs. improvements, depreciation, mortgage principal vs. interest, and passive-activity limits are judgment calls this tool cannot make. Line numbers follow the current IRS Schedule E (Form 1040) — confirm against the form for your tax year, since lines can shift.

What to paste: one transaction per line with a date, description, and amount, separated by commas (CSV) or tabs. Example: 2026-01-05, January rent - Unit A, 1850 and 2026-01-12, Plumber - kitchen sink leak, -245. Positive amounts are treated as income, negative as expenses (flip with the checkbox if your file does the opposite). Don't have data handy? Load the sample ledger below to try it out.

Paste your ledger:

Private: this text never leaves your browser — categorization happens on your device.

Flip signs — my expenses are positive numbers

Choose a CSV file:

The file is read locally by your browser — it is never uploaded anywhere. Expected columns: date, description, amount (a header row is detected automatically).

Flip signs — my expenses are positive numbers

Add one transaction:

Rows you add here join the same results table below.

Your Schedule E summary

Totals by Schedule E line

Line	Category	Amount	Count

Transactions (click a category to override)

Rows marked Needs review couldn't be matched confidently — pick the right Schedule E line from the dropdown.

Date	Description	Amount	Schedule E category	Match

How this categorizer works (and its limits)

How does the auto-categorization work?

Each transaction's description is scored against keyword sets for the real IRS Schedule E lines — Line 5 auto & travel through Line 18 other expenses, plus Line 3 rents received. The highest-scoring line wins; weak matches are flagged "Needs review" and you can override any row with a dropdown. It's pattern matching, not judgment: review every line before you rely on it.

Repairs vs. improvements — can it tell the difference?

No, and no keyword tool can. A $200 faucet fix is a repair; a $12,000 roof is an improvement that must be capitalized and depreciated (27.5 years for residential rental property under MACRS). The categorizer puts both under Repairs because the description looks like work done — you or your CPA must reclassify big-ticket items. When in doubt, treat anything that extends the property's life as a capital item.

What about security deposits?

Security deposits you hold are not income when received (and returning them is not an expense) — only a forfeited/applied deposit counts. The tool flags deposit lines as "Excluded — not income/expense (review)" so they don't inflate your numbers. Same logic: owner draws, transfers between your own accounts, and mortgage principal are excluded from totals.

Should I use this instead of accounting software?

For tax-time organization, this is a legitimate shortcut: many landlords keep a simple ledger all year and categorize once. But dedicated rental accounting (even a spreadsheet with these same categories) beats a once-a-year scramble. See our landlord bookkeeping guide for a year-round system.

Is my data stored or sent anywhere?

No. Categorization runs entirely in your browser with JavaScript. Close the tab and it's gone — nothing is uploaded, stored, or transmitted.