If you’re a savvy taxpayer, you want to deduct your business, rental, and non-rental losses whenever possible. Why? Because these deductions put cash in your pocket (which makes the losses easier to bear). But be aware. The passive-loss rules put your legitimate tax losses into a tax-loss prison and releases them only when you have passive income (or dispose of the … [Read more...]
Rental Properties
Sorted by Date
Fix those depreciation errors now!
It’s a sad fact … Many taxpayers don’t realize that depreciation is a very valuable and often misused (or mistakenly computed) tax deduction. If you failed to use depreciation rules the right way, you could be losing thousands of dollars that should be in your pocket. What can you do to fix depreciation errors you might have made in the past? Plenty. If you want to … [Read more...]
How to avoid partnership tax filings
Yes. With partnerships come problems. For example, if you own an unincorporated business, you likely have a partnership for financial tax purposes. Which means you have to deal with extra tax-return filings and compliance headaches. But there is some good news. You see, there are two “elections” you can make to avoid partnership treatment and many jointly owned rental … [Read more...]
Don’t let passive losses destroy your tax-favored capital gains
Do you own rental properties? If you do, I hope they’re producing a nice cash flow for you. But sadly, that doesn’t always happen. Sometimes your rentals produce losses which the IRS classifies as “passive losses” for tax purposes. This is not necessarily terrible because you can deduct those losses against passive income you’ve earned. The rental property losses that … [Read more...]
How to avoid the “self-rental” trap
Here’s the “self-rental” story in a nutshell: You own a business that needs office space… So you buy a building and rent office space to your business… You collect the rent and depreciate the property… Your business gets to deduct the rent it pays you… As a result, the money never leaves your pocket. Sounds great, right? Well, it is if you know the special rules that apply … [Read more...]