Free Rental Property Expense Spreadsheet (Australia)
A simple, free spreadsheet to track the income and expenses for your Australian rental property, built around the categories your accountant actually expects to see, with private-use apportionment and totals that add themselves up.
No email required. Free to keep and reuse each financial year.
What's inside
The template has five tabs:
- Start here — plain-English instructions and what the three "claim timing" options mean.
- Property details — one row per property: ownership %, key dates, whether you have a depreciation schedule.
- Income — log rent, short-stay income, retained bonds and insurance payouts (declare the gross amount, before agent or platform fees).
- Expenses — every cost, with drop-downs for the ATO category and the claim timing, plus a private-use % that calculates your deductible portion automatically.
- Summary — totals by category and by claim-timing group, with your net position, all auto-calculated.
How it's organised (the part that saves you money)
Every expense falls into one of three buckets, and the spreadsheet sorts them for you:
Bucket 1
Claim this year
Running costs deductible in the year you pay them: loan interest, council and water rates, land tax, insurance, agent fees, repairs and maintenance, strata, cleaning, gardening, pest control.
Bucket 2
Claim over several years
Borrowing expenses (over 5 years), depreciating assets over $300 (over their effective life), and capital works / Division 43 (2.5% a year for 40 years). See the capital works guide and repairs vs capital.
Bucket 3
Capital, not deductible now
Purchase stamp duty, conveyancing, initial repairs and improvements. These go to your capital gains tax (CGT) cost base, so the sheet keeps them in one place for when you sell.
Getting an expense into the right bucket is where most investors slip up. The drop-downs make it hard to get wrong.
When a spreadsheet stops being enough
A spreadsheet is a great start. But it cannot store the invoice behind each row, prompt you on the tricky repair-versus-capital calls, track private-use days for a holiday home, or produce an accountant-ready export. Once you have more than a handful of records, or more than one property, that is where ledger.rent takes over: the same structure as this spreadsheet, plus document storage, review prompts and a one-click export pack for your registered tax agent.
Grab the file
Download the free spreadsheet (Excel, no signup)Excel (.xlsx) · no signup · free to keep.
Frequently asked
Frequently asked questions
Related
- Rental Property Tax Deductions Checklist
- Rental Property Expense Tracker guide
- What Records Should Landlords Keep for Tax Time?
- Repairs vs capital improvements
- Capital works deductions (Division 43) explained
Free template by ledger.rent. Last updated May 2026. General information, not tax advice.
Begin the next financial year right
Ready for more than a spreadsheet?
ledger.rent uses the same structure, adds document storage and review prompts, and produces an accountant-ready export pack. Start a free trial, no credit card required.