Keeping track of every expense and deduction manually can be a real headache for landlords and real estate investors, but if you use dedicated software to keep your rental property records organized, you won’t panic when tax time rolls around in April.
Specialized tax software can help you maximize deductions like depreciation, which can significantly lower your tax bill. It’s like having a tax pro in your pocket, making tax season way less stressful.
What Makes Good Tax Software for Landlords and Real Estate Investors in 2025?
Landlords and real estate investors need tax software that goes beyond basic calculations and offers a mix of streamlined efficiency, maximum financial rewards, data security and protection against evolving tax regulations.
Baselane
Baselane is a banking and financial platform designed for independent landlords and real estate investors who must receive a security deposit, collect monthly rent, track expenses, file taxes, maintain insurance and return the deposit.
Known for its user-friendly interface, Baselane streamlines finances with features like high-yield interest savings accounts, multiple checking accounts and virtual cards. Its bookkeeping services automate property performance metrics and generate financial reports, simplifying tax preparation.
Baselane also includes a rent collection hub that sends automated payment reminders to tenants, provides a platform for tenants to pay rent from any device and allows tenants to enroll in automatic payments.
Baselane’s platform includes embedded financial services, allowing landlords to shop for loans and insurance. It plans to provide more automation for payments, bookkeeping and security deposit returns, as well as improve analytics and tax reporting.
Why We Picked It: You’ll find bookkeeping and tax season much easier with transactions automatically tagged to your properties, units and Schedule E tax categories.
Stessa
Landlords can use Stessa with TurboTax to streamline filings, ensure accuracy and maximize deductions.
The software allows you to scan and store receipts annually to maximize deductions. You can also give your certified public accountant access to your account to download whatever they need to prepare your tax return.
Stessa offers three packages to help landlords manage their properties and prepare tax returns more efficiently.
You can get started with the free Essentials software to accomplish key tasks for unlimited properties. You get automatic bank feeds, basic financial reports, vacancy marketing, tenant screening, online rent collection and a 2.31% annual percentage yield (APY) on cash balances.
You can upgrade to the Manage package for $12 per month (paid annually). You’ll get everything in the Essentials plan plus one eSignature per month, a Schedule E report, more than 60 legal forms and templates, accelerated rent payments and priority chat support.
Stessa’s Pro plan costs $28 per month (paid annually). You’ll get everything in Manage: unlimited portfolios, advanced reports, advanced transaction tracking, budgeting and pro forma, unlimited receipt scanning, unlimited charge history, seven eSignatures per month, 3.98% APY on cash balances, priority tenant screening and priority phone support.
Why We Picked It: Stessa’s built-in Schedule E and Tax Package reports simplify tax preparation. Your personalized Tax Package includes an income statement, a net cash flow report and a ZIP file with receipts for backup.
TurboTax Premier
TurboTax Premier is a solid choice for landlords and real estate investors because its features are tailored to rental property income, expenses and deductions. The price tag is $115.
It guides users through reporting rental income on Schedule E and helps them track common expenses like repairs, mortgage interest and property management fees. It can also help calculate the depreciation of a property to ensure the maximum tax benefits.
You can import data from financial institutions and property management software to help streamline tax filing and reduce manual entry errors.
If you invest in real estate investment trusts (REITs), stocks or other assets, TurboTax Premier also covers those.
You can add TurboTax Live to consult with a certified public accountant.
Why We Picked It: TurboTax Premier helps investors track capital gains when they sell a property and it supports reporting 1031 exchanges for tax deferral.
Landlord Studio
Landlord Studio offers features designed to make tax preparation easier and more accurate.
It provides automatic expense tracking, comprehensive reporting tools and document storage. Industry-specific reports make filing your Schedule E easy and you can monitor your finances with them.
The software’s expense categories are designed for the real estate industry so you’ll get the maximum deduction. It also has bookkeeping tools you can use on the go.
Landlord Studio software generates basic reports that can be exported as PDFs. The reports include income and expense, Schedule E, rent ledger, online payments and supplier expense.
Its advanced reports include a profit and loss summary, detailed income and expense reports, rent payment difference, overdue rent payments and expiring leases.
Users give Landlord Studio 4.9 out of five stars, with one landlord writing, “I love all the units accessible at my fingertips and would highly recommend it to anybody who’s looking to get on board with bank-to-bank transfers for rent payments and wanting to create customizable reports. I love it.”
Why We Picked It: Landlords can automate their income and expense tracking with Landlord Studio’s easy-to-use app. It will instantly generate financial reports and track your mileage.
H&R Block Premium
At $95, H&R Block Premium is an affordable tax software option for landlords and real estate investors.
The software, which supports multiple rental properties, allows for rental income and deductions, as well as stock and bond investments and cryptocurrency sales. It will guide you through reporting rental income on Schedule E and help you track deductible expenses such as maintenance, repairs, mortgage interest and property management fees.
H&R Block Premium also walks you through calculating depreciation on rental properties to help you maximize your tax benefits. It helps investors report capital gains or losses when selling properties and guides 1031 exchanges for tax deferral.
The software allows you to import tax returns from previous years and data from W-2s, 1099s and financial institutions.
H&R Block will also provide free in-person audit assistance if needed and help landlords and investors with potential IRS inquiries.
Why We Picked It: Unlike TurboTax, H&R Block has physical office locations where you can get help. It also offers online expert assistance through its Tax Pro Help.
TaxAct Premier
TaxAct Premier offers features to handle rental income, depreciation and property-related deductions.
Compared to other premium tax services, its user-friendly interface and affordability – prices start at $84.99 – make TaxAct Premier a good option for real estate investors looking for a cost-effective tax preparation tool.
It supports Schedule E to help you accurately report rental income and expenses and calculates depreciation on rental properties to ensure you get the maximum deductions.
It also helps track profits and losses from property sales and identifies deductible expenses such as mortgage interest, repairs and property management fees.
You can import returns from previous years and other financial sources.
TaxAct uses security technology and monitoring processes and partners with the IRS to protect your personal information.
Why We Picked It: TaxAct Alerts inspect your return for errors, omissions and tax-saving opportunities you may have missed when you prepared it. It guarantees your return is 100% accurate.
RentRedi
Landlords and real estate investors can add rental property accounting to RentRedi’s all-in-one property management software to prepare tax returns.
The accounting add-on automatically syncs properties and charges from your RentRedi account and links your bank and credit card accounts electronically for easy automatic transaction imports.
The software generates detailed reports on rental income, helping landlords accurately report earnings. It also provides exportable financial data that simplifies tax preparation, whether you file independently or use an accountant.
RentRedi’s property management software allows landlords to collect rent online without hidden fees or fees for additional units or tenants. Tenants can make payments via credit, debit and ACH or deposit cash at more than 90,000 retail locations.
The software also helps landlords find and identify good tenants with a complete screening report.
The rental management software allows landlords to outsource maintenance.
Why We Picked It: You can access full financial reports such as profit and loss, cash flow and balance sheet reports and tax-ready IRS Schedule E reports.
Rentec Direct
Rentec Direct is not full tax preparation software like TurboTax or H&R Block. Still, it’s a great property management software that helps landlords and real estate investors streamline financial tracking, making tax preparation easier.
You can track rental income, late fees and security deposits, categorize expenses automatically to make claiming deductions easy and generate reports compatible with tax filing requirements.
The software helps track asset and property depreciation and keeps records of property purchases, improvements and other long-term investments.
Rentec allows you to generate and e-file 1099-NEC forms if you hire contractors for maintenance or repairs.
Rentec is a good accounting and property management tool that makes tax filing easier, but you’ll still need tax software or an accountant to prepare and file your returns. The software integrates with QuickBooks, making it easier to transfer financial data to tax software or an accountant. You can also import financial data from Rentec into tax software like TurboTax or H&R Block.
Why We Picked It: Rentec Direct provides Schedule E-friendly reports that detail rental income and deductible expenses.
How We Chose These Tax Software for Landlords and Real Estate Investors in 2025
When choosing tax software, Benzinga focused on the specific needs of landlords and real estate investors. Handling Schedule E was the core requirement. Accurate depreciation calculations, expense tracking and multiple property management capabilities were also considered.
We chose intuitive and user-friendly software to minimize the time required for preparing tax returns. We also considered the price relative to the features offered.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best accounting software for landlords?
Stessa and Baselane are frequently recommended as the top accounting software options for landlords because they offer features designed to manage rental property finances.
What is the best tax structure for rental properties?
The most suitable tax structure for rental properties is forming a limited liability company (LLC). The LLC’s income or losses pass through to the owner’s tax return.
What is the best software for small landlords?
Stessa and Landlord Studio are good for small landlords because of their user-friendly interfaces and features tailored for managing a few properties.