Landlord income and expenses spreadsheet template
A working Excel template for rental income and expenses: rent recorded per property, supplier invoices coded and checked for VAT basis, mortgage interest handled the way Section 24 actually requires, and a profit sheet whose figures are live formulas over your own rows rather than numbers you retype. Free, no sign-up and no email address.
What is in it
| Sheet | One row per | What it does for you |
|---|---|---|
| Rent received | Payment | Date, property, tenant, amount and type, so income is attributable, not a lump. |
| Expenses | Supplier invoice | Property, supplier, category, net, VAT and gross, plus the “total includes VAT?” and “capital improvement?” questions. Gross calculates itself. |
| Expense categories | Category | What each code covers, so two properties are coded the same way. |
| Mortgage interest | Property | Interest paid, with the 20% basic-rate credit worked out — kept off the expense sheet on purpose. |
| Profit by property | Property | Rent, deductible expenses and profit as live SUMIF and SUMIFS formulas, with capital improvements shown separately. |
Why mortgage interest is not an expense here
This is the error that costs the most. Since April 2020 an individual landlord cannot deduct mortgage interest from rental income; it is relieved as a basic-rate tax reduction against the final bill instead. A spreadsheet that lists interest alongside repairs produces a rental profit that is too low, and a tax bill that arrives larger than the sheet said it would. So interest lives on its own sheet and the profit sheet does not subtract it.
What the sheet will not do is tell you the reduction you are entitled to, because it cannot. HMRC limits it to the lower of three figures: your finance costs, your property business profits, and your adjusted total income above the personal allowance — and the unused part carries forward. The sheet holds the first of those and nothing else, so the 20% column is an illustration of a ceiling, not an entitlement. If your profits or income are below your interest, your real reduction is lower. The notes on that sheet say so and link HMRC's own worked examples.
Why every expense row asks whether it was an improvement
A repair is deductible against this year's rental profit. An improvement is not, and may instead matter for capital gains when you sell, depending on your circumstances. The boundary is not obvious: HMRC treats a replacement using the nearest modern equivalent as a repair, so fitting a new kitchen because the old one was worn out is not automatically an improvement, while genuinely upgrading or extending it can be. The same builder sends both kinds of invoice in the same week and neither says which it is. That is why the column exists, and why the profit sheet subtracts only the rows marked No.
Why the VAT basis column is there
It looks like clutter until you know that invoices genuinely disagree. In our field-by-field study of 87 published invoices, 26 line rows stated a tax-inclusive total against 173 exclusive, with 22 undetermined. Those are counts from that corpus rather than a rate to expect anywhere else, but they are enough to show both kinds arrive in ordinary paperwork — and a column that mixes them without recording which is which can be summed into a figure nobody can check.
Filling it in without typing
The template is the easy half. The work is turning a folder of supplier PDFs, scans and phone photos into those rows. That is what Invoices to Spreadsheets does. Its export carries supplier, invoice number, net, VAT and totals; the property, the category and the repair-or-improvement question stay yours, because no extraction can decide them. Try one invoice free, without an account.
Developing rather than letting? The property development cost template carries costs per plot instead, and the construction job cost template uses trade cost codes.
Is the landlord income and expenses spreadsheet template free?
Yes. Download it, use it, change it. No account, no email address, no card.
Why is mortgage interest not in the expense categories?
Because since April 2020 it is not a deductible expense for an individual landlord. It is relieved as a basic-rate tax reduction against your final bill instead. A template that files interest next to repairs overstates your deduction and understates the tax you owe, so this one keeps it on its own sheet. The 20% figure there is an illustration, not the relief you will receive: HMRC limits the reduction to the lower of your finance costs, your property business profits, and your adjusted total income above the personal allowance, and the sheet holds only the first of those. The notes on that sheet say so and link the HMRC guidance.
What does the "capital improvement?" column do?
It decides whether a cost is treated as a running cost or not. A like-for-like repair reduces your rental profit this year; an improvement does not, and may instead be relevant to capital gains when you sell, depending on your circumstances. The line is genuinely hard: HMRC treats a replacement using the nearest modern equivalent as a repair, so a new kitchen is not automatically an improvement. Nothing on the invoice records the distinction, so the template asks per row and the profit sheet subtracts only the rows marked No. If a row is a close call, that is a question for your accountant, not for this column.
What is in the template?
Five sheets. Rent received — one row per payment, per property. Expenses — one row per supplier invoice, with category, VAT basis and the capital question. Expense categories — what each code covers. Mortgage interest — interest per property with the 20% credit worked out. Profit by property — rent, deductible expenses and profit, all live formulas over the sheets above, so nothing is retyped and nothing goes stale.
Why is there a "total includes VAT?" column?
Because invoices genuinely disagree. In our own study of 87 published invoices we found 26 line rows stating a tax-inclusive total against 173 exclusive, with 22 we could not determine. Those are counts from that corpus, not a rate to expect anywhere else. The point is that both kinds turn up in ordinary paperwork, so a column mixing them without recording which is which can be summed into a figure nobody can check.
Does it use the tax year or the calendar year?
The UK tax year, 6 April to 5 April. Use one copy of the file per tax year — that way each file matches what you file, and you are never slicing a calendar year in half at the point it matters.
Does it work in Google Sheets or Numbers?
Yes. It is a standard .xlsx and the formulas are SUMIF, SUMIFS, SUM and IF, which both import cleanly. Set your locale before importing so dates and £ parse as dates and numbers.
Is this tax advice?
No. It is a record of what you received and paid, arranged so that two things which are easy to conflate — interest and running costs, repairs and improvements — are kept apart on the page. We have not studied what landlords get wrong; we studied invoices. Your circumstances, such as holding property through a company, furnished holiday lets or joint ownership, can change the treatment entirely. Check with your accountant.
Do I have to type the invoices in by hand?
That is the part this template cannot do for you. Filling it from a folder of PDFs, scans and photos is what Invoices to Spreadsheets does. Its export gives you supplier, invoice number, net, VAT and totals; the property, the category and the two judgement columns are yours to add, because no extraction can decide them for you.
7 days · 50 documents · No card needed