My wife and I acquired our first rental property this past August 2020. The property is a multiplex and we are currently house hacking. It was tough to take the leap but we have talked about investing for so long we finally had to pull the trigger. That being said, we are both still learning and tackling new issues and questions as they arise. We try to be as proactive in our learnings as we can but still have a lot to learn/experience. Our newest struggle deals with Portland’s Schedule R. To my understanding we are required to register our property with the city of Portland annually. However, when I read the ordinance and form it requires we include our “business” ID # and entity information. We are private investors who don’t own a business entity. Does anyone have any advise they can share regarding this ordinance? Thank you in advance for reading and sharing.

@Billy Cha all I can say is it is a horrible thing. It used to be you had to file your tax return to show if you made over 50k and then had to pay tax to city and Multnomah county. The registration I believe is new and a per unit fee. They want to know everything. Your social security is your business ID if you don’t have an entity. Your accountant should file this for you IMO.

Hey @Billy Cha , I just got my notice in the mail and had to do the same thing.  Jeff is right, just use your SSN.  It's a scam but another cost that is going to translate into higher rents.  

@Jeff S. Thank you for the confirmation! Unfortunate to hear we have another pay-to-play fee but glad to get the confirmation now. Hope in time to avoid a penalty. We are actively looking for a good accountant. Tax season is turning out to be a rough time to get a reply but we're definitely on the hunt. Thanks again!

@Brad Hammond It's been a long time goal of ours to invest in Portland were my wife and I are born and raised but turning out to be more trouble around every corner i.e. ever changing landlord tenant laws, fees, taxes. We'll add this one to the to-do list. Thank you for the reply!

@Billy Cha

As others have mentioned, you are required to file Schedule R with the "city of Portland / Multnomah County" tax return.
The fee is $60 per unit on schedule R
There is also minimum fees with the return itself.

The fees are required even if you operate at a loss for the year.

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

@Billy Cha , everyone here is all on point. It's a sad reality. There used to be a City sponsored Landlord training class here locally, for FREE! I took it twice due to the ever changing landlord/tenant laws, and then the whole program just shut down a couple years ago now. I don't know if it was funding, or they can't keep up on updating the material because the rules/policies keep changing so rapidly. Either way, keep an ear out or even petition the City via email to see if they intend to bring it back. It was VERY informative. 

@Adam Best Thanks for the additional confirmation here. Also, thank you for the heads up on the training classes. I've actually seen a couple of online classes come up for Portland tenant laws. I haven't been able to attend any calls as they were mostly booked up and wait listed but I'll share the link here as soon as I find it.