Deductions taken in the right year
Repair versus improvement, bonus depreciation and Section 179 applied deliberately rather than by default.
Real Estate
Property is a tax strategy that happens to produce rent
Depreciation, cost segregation, material participation and exchange planning decide the return as much as the purchase price does.
The return on a property is decided in the tax treatment
Two investors can buy the same building at the same price and end up with materially different after-tax returns. The difference is depreciation method, how the basis was allocated, whether the activity is passive or active, and how gains were deferred on the way out.
None of those are decided at the closing table. They are decided by whoever does the accounting.
What we do for property owners
Per-property books so each asset's real performance is visible, depreciation schedules maintained correctly including improvements and dispositions, and basis tracked from acquisition through every capital expenditure.
On the planning side: whether a cost segregation study pays for itself on your property, whether you qualify for real estate professional status, how passive activity losses are grouped, and how a 1031 exchange should be sequenced.
Included
What you get
Per-property accounting
Income, expense and cash flow by property, plus a portfolio consolidation.
Depreciation schedules
Maintained properly across improvements, partial dispositions and component retirements.
Cost segregation analysis
Whether a study makes financial sense for your property before you commission one — and coordination with the engineering firm if it does.
1031 exchange support
Timeline management, basis calculation and the reporting on Form 8824, coordinated with your qualified intermediary.
Passive activity planning
Grouping elections, material participation testing and real estate professional status documentation.
Agent & broker tax work
Commission income, entity structure, vehicle and home office deductions, and quarterly estimates for irregular income.
Why it matters
What changes for you
Basis that survives a sale
Accurate basis tracking prevents an unpleasant surprise on the gain calculation years later.
Exchange deadlines respected
The 45-day and 180-day clocks are absolute. We track them with you.
Honest analysis of the strategies
Cost segregation and real estate professional status are powerful and are also oversold. We tell you when they do not fit.
The process
How the engagement runs
01
Portfolio review
Current holdings, entity structure, depreciation schedules and basis records examined.
02
Restructure & clean up
Books rebuilt per property, schedules corrected, missing basis reconstructed.
03
Plan
Depreciation strategy, participation status and exchange planning modelled before the next transaction.
04
Ongoing
Monthly or quarterly accounting, annual returns, and a call before every acquisition or sale.
Questions
Real Estate & Investors, answered
Still not sure? Ask us directly — the first conversation costs nothing and we will tell you honestly whether this is what you need.
It depends on the property's basis, how long you intend to hold it, and whether you can currently use the losses it generates. For a property below roughly half a million in depreciable basis the study cost often outweighs the benefit. We model it both ways before you spend anything.
It requires more than half your personal service time and at least 750 hours in real property trades or businesses in which you materially participate — a high bar for anyone with a full-time job elsewhere. It is also a frequently examined position, so the contemporaneous time records matter as much as the hours.
Average stays of seven days or fewer can fall outside the usual passive rental rules, which changes the loss treatment significantly and brings a separate set of material participation tests into play. It is one of the most misunderstood areas in property tax, and one worth getting advice on before you buy.
Related
Often needed alongside this
Proactive Tax Planning & Strategy
Planning is the part of the work that actually moves the number. We model your year while there is still time to change it — and show you, in dollars, what each decision is worth.
Learn more
Bookkeeping & Monthly Close
Reconciled every month, closed on a schedule, and delivered with a short note explaining what changed. Not a shoebox reconstructed in March.
Learn more
Outsourced CFO & Financial Advisory
Forecasting, margin analysis, pricing and capital decisions — the work a full-time CFO would do, scaled to a business that does not need one full time.
Learn more
Let’s talk about your real estate & investors.
A thirty-minute call, no charge, and a fixed quote before anything begins. If we are not the right firm for this, we will tell you that too.