Rental Receipts for Tenants Social Security

[Ryan L.]

First time poster, but I have been following the blog for awhile now. I have my first question that I was unable to figure out myself.  I recently signed new tenants to my 3 bed/2 bath home.  It is a mother and her son with his girlfriend.  The son is a caretaker for his mother (she can not read or write).  The tenants are asking for a rental receipt for his mother for $400 (total rent is $485). I would see no problem to this except for the fact that it will come in one check. He collects the money from his mom in cash (from Social Security I assume) and writes a total check to me for the full amount.  How do I handle the rental paid receipts? I believe he wants 2 separate receipts, $400 for his mom and $485 for him, but as I can't verify the $400 actually came from his mother - is this legal? Thanks in advance for your help!

[Dave Toelkes]

You should only give receipts for the actual amount of money you received.  If your tenant wants two receipts, then give one for $400 and another for $85.  I don't see any problem with this.  The source of the funds does not matter to you, but the amount of money you collected does and that is what you report on your tax return.  If audited, you don't want your receipt book showing that you collected more rent than you actually reported.