Rent and taxes

[Steve Horton]

Hello,

I'm not an agent or anything, just a regular person with no knowledge of real estate. I'll describe the situation and hope for answers.

Let's say "Joe" moved out of his home for a job in another city. He rented his home out for 11 months. He never contacted his mortgage company about it, and never made it officially a "rental". He just collected the money from the tenants and continued to make his payment as usual, and the money he collected was less than his normal payment, so he made up the difference. The only records of the payments received are from deposits from money orders. Does Joe need to fill out a Schedule E form for tax purposes?

Thanks