830 CMR, § 62.3.1
Example 1: A, a Massachusetts resident, owns a house in Springfield in which he or she lives most of the year and also rents a cottage on Cape Cod which he or she uses in the summer months. The Springfield house is his or her principal residence; the summer cottage is not. A may not deduct the rent on the summer cottage.
Example 2: B, a New Hampshire resident, owns a house in New Hampshire and also rents an apartment in Boston. His or her New Hampshire house is his or her principal residence; the Boston apartment is not. B may not deduct the rent on the Boston apartment.
Example 3: C, a Massachusetts resident, rents an apartment in Boston in which he or she lives most of the time and also rents a cottage in Maine. The Boston apartment is C's principal residence; the Maine cottage is not. C may deduct the rent on the Boston apartment.
Example 4: D, a University of Massachusetts undergraduate student, rents an apartment in Amherst during the school year and resides with his or her parents in the family home in Newton when he or she is not at college. His or her home in Newton is his or her principal residence; the apartment rent is not deductible.
Rent may include the rental of a mobile home or of a mobile home site. Payments by a tenant-stockholder of a cooperative housing corporation to the corporation and payments by an owner of a condominium unit to the condominium association are not rent. Consideration paid for the occupancy of a "hotel", "lodging house" or "motel", as defined in M.G.L. c. 64G, § 1, or similar occupancies, is not rent, unless and until such premises are occupied under a rental agreement, written or oral, creating a landlord-tenant relationship.
In determining the amount of the deduction, rent includes the amount paid for heat, hot water, gas, electricity, furniture or parking, if the landlord makes no separate charge for these items. But if charges for these items are separately stated at the time of rental, in the rental agreement or otherwise, such charges do not constitute rent for purposes of the rental deduction.
Example: Under the terms of E's lease the rental price of his unit is $300 per month, which includes the cost of heat and hot water. The lease provides for an additional charge of $25 per month for a parking space. E pays for his own electricity. E's rental deduction for each month of occupancy for which rent is paid is $150 (50% of $300 rent).
Where a tenant provides services to a landlord and in consideration for such services receives a reduction in rent, rent is the actual amount of money paid by the tenant to the landlord; rent does not include payments in kind.
Example: M, a tenant in N's apartment building, tends the garden surrounding the building. In consideration for this service M is charged only $250 per month for the right to occupy his apartment unit; other tenants, occupying similar units, are charged $300 per month. M's rental deduction for each month of occupancy for which rent is paid is $125 (50% of $250).
Rent does not include amounts paid as a security deposit or amounts paid for the last month's rent upon entering into a lease, unless and until applied to unpaid rent.
Example 1: F, a young artist, occupies as her principal residence an apartment in Cambridge, which is leased for her by her aunt who resides in Boston. The rent is paid by the aunt. F is not entitled to a deduction since she does not pay the rent; the aunt is not entitled to the deduction because the apartment is not her residence.
Example 2: G, a teacher, and H, a salesman, rent an apartment in Boston for $300 a month; each pays $150. The apartment is G's only residence; H also owns a house in Pittsfield in which he lives when not traveling. G's rental deduction for each month of occupancy for which rent is paid is $75 (50% of $150). H is not entitled to a deduction since the Boston apartment is not his principal residence.
Example 1: I, a tenant whose rental period runs from the first to the last day of the month, pays his January, 1982 rent in December, 1981. I will take the deduction for the January, 1982 rental period on his 1981 return, the return for the year in which the payment was made.
Example 2: J pays his October and November, 1981 rent in February, 1982; he may take the deduction for this payment on his 1982 return, the return for the year in which the payment was made.
Example 3: K, a tenant whose rental period runs from the 15th day of one month to the 14th day of the following month paid rent for the December 15, 1980 to January 14, 1981 rental period on December 15, 1980. K is not entitled to a deduction for this payment since the rental deduction applies to rent paid after December 31, 1980.
830 CMR, § 62.3.1