irs

Taxes

Real Estate Professional Status: The IRS Has Read Sun Tzu

by Clint Coons | March 25, 2011
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It would appear the IRS has read Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” and is applying his strategy of “avoiding what is strong to strike at what is weak.”  Albeit compared to four years ago the real estate market is weak even if it is beginning to show signs of stability.  So who better than [...]

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Taxes

2010 Small Business Act: You Have Been Drafted by the IRS

by Clint Coons | October 7, 2010
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In the off chance you missed your IRS draft notice I thought I would remind everyone of their new responsibilities. As you know, the United States has run up a huge deficit and spending is no where near under control. In an effort to appear as if steps are being taken to to address the [...]

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Taxes

How You Should Handle the IRS (and how to get an accountant)

by Jason Hanson | September 5, 2010

Last week I got a letter in the mail from the IRS. Of course, when I saw the envelope I thought two things: “Crap, I’m getting audited” and “crap, I owe them more money.” When I opened the envelope there were several documents, which I didn’t really understand (or have the patience to understand) and [...]

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Taxes

Recent Tax Court Ruling Denies IRS Sec.121 Gain Exclusion on Sale of a Personal Residence

by Clint Coons | August 24, 2010
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Have you ever considered tearing down and remodeling your personal residence? Better be careful because the IRS is watching and what appears on its face as an innocuous event can have serious tax ramifications for you down the road.  In a recent tax case the IRS was able to convince the Tax Court (Gates v. [...]

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Real Estate Investing

Don’t Get Double Taxed! Never Do This with your Corporation

by Clint Coons | August 17, 2010
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A dilemma every real estate investor who buys and sells property for short term gain faces, is how to proceed if the property does not sell.  Most of my clients understand the importance of using a corporation for their short term investing to avoid the dreaded “dealer” classification.  This usually requires the utilization of a [...]

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Taxes

The Basics of “Real Estate Professional” Status for Tax Purposes

by J Scott | August 4, 2010

One of the biggest challenges real estate investors face is keeping the profits that they earn from their investments. Just like any other business, the IRS is going to want to take as big a chunk of your profits as possible, and knowing how to use the system to your advantage will help you keep [...]

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Rehabbing

Are You Sure Your Independent Contractors Really Are?

by J Scott | May 26, 2010

As a real estate investor — and especially if you’re a house flipper — you will no-doubt be hiring a lot of independent contractors to support your business. And I’m not just talking about the people who will be working on your houses; your real estate agent, your attorney, your CPA, and most of the [...]

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Real Estate Investing

Make Over $150K a Year? Excellent! Here’s a Strategy For You

by Jeff Brown | January 5, 2010
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One of the most often heard comments during phone conversations with potential clients is, “I didn’t know that was possible.” Or something similar. The foundation for successful investing is doing things on Purpose with a Plan. Taxes and the sheltering thereof is a main cog for most real estate investors. More important, how does the [...]

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Commentary

An Investment Alternative To Consider

by Tom Koziol | July 31, 2009

Today I have put on my insurance agent hat and will talk about what I believe to be a good place to invest not only your retirement but spare cash. You can even be retired and get one heck of a deal with this product.

I am talking about the good ole annuity that has had its reputation tarnished but is on its way back to being the star it should be. Because annuities come in a variety of flavors, ie, fixed, single premium immediate income, variable, etc, I’ll stick only to the virtues of fixed and single premium annuities.

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Landlord Tenant

Managing Tenants Part Four: The Home Office (a thing of beauty and a joy forevermore)

by Connie Brzowski | February 16, 2008

For the novice real estate investor, it’s mighty tempting to handle business deals and tenant phone calls from home, but having a home office or dedicated office area provides a degree of separation essential for running a successful real estate enterprise. No matter how hard you try, it’s impossible to sound professional with a screaming [...]

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