Realtor Tenant Finders Fee Write Off?

[Justin Burch]

I bought a house recently as a rental property. I used the realtor to find a tenant in order to fill quickly. The agreement was 84% of the 1st month rent was to go to the agent ($1600 month/rent, $1344 to realtor). The realtor collected the $1600 through her agency, then sent me a check for what was leftover after her fee ($256). That all went as planned, my confusion is the expense and write off portion.

It is pretty easy internally to track the numbers on my own P/L. I simply remove the $1344 to balance my checking account because I never cut a check for that cost. My question is during tax time. Is this an expense write off? Can I write this off and only claim $256 as income, or if I claim the write off do I claim the $1600 in that months income (but $1600 never hit my checking account).

The answer is probably simply, but it is still grey to me. My logic says I should not be able to claim the $1344 expense if I only claim $256 as income.

I appreciate any input.