cpa

 

Millionaire property investor Rob Rowsell’s CPA explains how real estate investors can benefit from discretionary expense write-offs. These tax deductions are key to legally avoiding paying too much in taxes and fees. Pay close attention to this tax advice, and remember: Saved taxes is another income stream!

Discretionary Expense Write-Offs for Real Estate Investors and Tax Breaks for Multi-Family Property OwnersWhat Qualifies As Discretionary Expense Write-Offs?

Discretionary Expense Write-Offs can benefit Property Investors immensely. CPA Kevin Bassett starts the clip by explaining that deducting Owners’ Discretionary Expenses (ODE’s) is one of his favorite tax strategies. Others refer to it as Perks or Grateful Expenses.

Next, he presents his one page form on pre-taxing your lifestyle. When he starts working together with a new client, they fill out this form. The client does this in order to determine which of their expenses are deductible.

Kevin’s Top Six Discretionary Expense Write-Offs

  1. Company Vehicles and Work Trucks
  2. Home Office Space
  3. Home Internet Bills and Other Office Expenses
  4. The Augusta Rule (See Below)
  5. Shareholder Meetings
  6. Putting Your Spouse and Kids on Your Payroll

Regarding shareholder meetings, Kevin mentioned that this deduction is fairly straightforward if they are in US territories. Why not hold your shareholder meeting on the beach in Hawaii, since it’s tax deductible? Kevin recommends putting your spouse on payroll, in order to double your IRA deduction. Also, he pays his kids the IRA limit of $6,500 annually to work in the office. He invests the money in an account to meet everyday needs when they go to college. He also contributes to a 529 account for their tuition, and deposits into a pre-taxed Roth IRA for their retirement. The earlier you start investing, the more the interest will compound.

Kevin went on to expand on writing off your home office. When you invoke the Safe Harbor Rule, the IRS will not audit this deduction. Using this simplified deduction, you can write off $1500 on your home office space. This is based on $5 x 300 square feet. Benefits include no depreciation recapture (no gains when you sell your home on that 300 square feet), and no need for you to itemize. Let’s say you have two businesses in your home, each in a different room. For example, you and your spouse both work from home. You may be able to write off both home offices. Check with your CPA to confirm this.

The Augusta Rule

If you work from home, the IRS allows you to rent your home out for up to 14 days tax free. Your S-Corp (not an LLC) can pay a rental fee to use your home office for meetings, and you may deduct that amount. The amount you charge can be a fair market rate based on hotels and AirBNB properties in your area. Many companies will use the Augusta Rule by hosting quarterly meetings and their annual Christmas party in home.

Finally, Kevin reminds us to be thorough when listing our companies’ discretionary expense write-offs. However, don’t be greedy. After all, pigs get slaughtered.

Join Our Community

Do you own multi-family properties? If not, do you aspire to one day? Then you should consider joining our online discussion group, the ATL Inner Circle Community! Each month, Rob Rowsell will teach you what you must do in order to build wealth in the real estate business. It’s not as easy as it looks! Property taxes, liens, and legal fees can all be hard to navigate, so having a successful guide in your corner like Rob is a must! Sign up today!

 

Rob Rowsell’s personal CPA is here to explain why property investors should form a real estate investment LLC. There are so many tax advantages built into this method of incorporation. Limiting liabilities, using cost segregations, and other investor tax tricks are just a few advantages to forming a real estate investment LLC. Rob also adds a few tips, and reminds us that the government needs to know we spend at least 750 hours on our property business in order for them to consider us a real estate professional.

Benefits of Forming a Real Estate Investment LLCWhy Should Property Investors Form A Real Estate Investment LLC?

Rob’s CPA Kevin Bassett of Bassett and Associates joins the call. His first order of duty is to explain why we should form a real estate investment LLC. An LLC, or Limited Liability Corporation, is a great protection for your business, especially if you invest in multi-family rental properties.

One advantage of an LLC is the ability to use Cost Segregation. This strategy front loads your tax depreciation, but it only works if you have an LLC. Hire an inspector to come in and survey your apartments. If you have a $10 million complex, your inspector could break the units into components, possibly finding up to $2 million worth of accelerated depreciation. Fixtures, parking lots, and electrical items needing repair or updating. You can write this off right away, instead of over decades. This can wipe out some or all of a year’s income, saving you huge on taxes.

Kevin then lists other tax advantages to forming an LLC. These tax strategies include 1031 exchanges and long term capital gains rates, as well as installment sales.

Rob Rowsell Responds

Next, Rob adds the two reasons real estate investors should form entities. First, as we’ve discussed before, is for asset protection. Second, a Real Estate Investment LLC provides anonymity for you and your investors, if you set up your LLC to be managed by another party. This allows you to maximize your tax savings with the variety of deduction strategies Kevin mentioned. This benefit is available in many states, but not all, so consult your legal team and CPA before taking action.

Finally, Rob asked Kevin to outline the requirements one must complete in order to be recognized by the US government as a Real Estate Professional. We must verify that we spend 750 hours per year working in the industry. This means managing, acquiring property, and even long term holds. Construction contractors may also qualify for the real estate trades. In order to be certified, you also must prove that you spent more time working in real estate than any other trade. We discuss how to log these hours in another post.

Join Our Real Estate Investment Community

Do you own multi-family properties? If not, do you aspire to one day? Then you should consider joining our online discussion group, the ATL Inner Circle Community! Each month, Rob Rowsell will teach you what you must do in order to build wealth in the real estate business. It’s not as easy as it looks! Property taxes, liens, and legal fees can all be hard to navigate, so having a successful guide in your corner like Rob is a must! Sign up today!

 

Wealthy Real Estate Investor Rob Rowsell is here today to share his ultimate tax saving secrets in part one of this two part series. Let’s all watch and read on to learn the first two out of four tips. Do you want to make the absolute most out of all of your investments and avoid the scourge of tax drag? Well then, this series is definitely for you! Let’s go!

Tax Saving Secrets - Keep Your MoneyRob’s Tax Saving Secrets Revealed, 1 and 2

Rob starts off the clip by defining the often discussed concept of “tax drag”. Tax drag is the wealth draining resistance that taxes can make on both your investments and your earnings. Not only can it cost you cash today, it can also rob you of potential future compounded earnings from all of those lost dollars.

How can you as an investor get ahead of this disturbing trend? First off, you will need to start meeting with your accountant on a regular basis. Specifically, scheduling a September meeting with them to report the financial moves you’ve made thus far in the year is a great idea. Once your CPA is aware of those moves, then they can help you formulate strategies in the remaining three months. These strategies will help you to minimize the taxes you will owe at the end of the fiscal year.

Save On Taxes By Emphasizing Structure Over Deduction

The first of Rob’s tax saving secrets we will discuss is Structure Over Deduction. All of us will look for deductions when it is tax time. If you are not also structuring how your money is handled during all twelve months of the year, then you will not need to lean so heavily on those deductions in April.

One example of this strategy is to make sure that you pay yourself tax efficiently. Rob’s financial advisor once estimated that he should be earning a salary within a wide range. By paying himself on the low end of that proposed dollar range, Rob is being conservative monetarily. Remember, when it comes to paying your own taxes, you are in charge. You are the quarterback on the field!

Rob Defines The Concept Of Tax Rate Arbitrage

Tax Rate Arbitrage is another one of Rob’s favorite structuring tools in his tax saving secrets toolbox. Rob decided at one point that he would form a management company structured as a C Corporation. That C Corp received a fee from both his real estate and automotive repair businesses for the services that they rendered. The C Corp was taxed much more efficiently than any of his other businesses were. Therefore, he saved himself money on taxes all around. Entities such as a C Corporation exist for just two reasons: in order to protect your assets, and to save you money on your taxes.

What Does It Mean When You Plan Your Exit Before You Go In?

Another essential financial structure strategy is when you Plan Your Exit Before You Go In. In the real estate business, most investors’ end game is an obvious one. You may have a written three to five year plan in place for your multi-family property investments. Whatever amount of money you choose to invest in each of them will help your tax advisor to give you the best advice. That means they will show you how to structure your businesses to save on taxes.

Tax Saving Secrets Continued: Invest Your Saved Taxes Efficiently

Rob continued with a game changing hack that you can apply today! Savvy tax planning is the absolute lowest risk way to immediately boost your return on investment. That strategy means knowing what your investing end game is. Savvy tax planning also includes deciding which wealth bucket you will be investing money from.

Generally, your long term capital growth investments will go straight to your taxable accounts. This is because they are not taxed at the government’s highest rates. “Ordinary income” cash flow investments will go in tax advantaged accounts instead. Rob used an example from his own investment history. He once made a short term loan to some house flippers in his investing network. Since he used a sum of money from his own Roth IRA account, he was not taxed on that loan amount. Also, the returns from that investment could go right back into his retirement fund. That way, those returns could continue compounding.

Conclusion: Money Saved On Taxes Is A Revenue Stream

Remember, all of the money you save on taxes can be counted as a revenue stream! Once again, tax drag is the polar opposite of a revenue stream. It is lost income from the annual taxes that you pay. What if you had not paid those taxes? Then you could have made compound returns by investing those funds over a period of time.

Join Our Real Estate Investment Community Today!

Have you invested funds in multi-family rental properties? If not, do you aspire to do so one day? Then you should definitely consider joining our online discussion group, the ATL Inner Circle Community! Each and every month, Rob Rowsell will teach you what you must do so you too can build wealth in the real estate business. It is not as easy as it looks! Property taxes, liens, and legal fees can all be hard to navigate. Therefore, having a successful guide in your corner like Rob is a must! Sign up today!