Paying myself as a property manager

[Erik Sherburne]

I have been managing my own properties, can I pay myself as a property manager? Set up a different business? Pay my wife?

[Erik W.]

Why bother? If you "pay yourself" as a separate business, then you also have to withhold self-employment taxes and pay your share of social security and medicare tax. Just take money home via draws or paydays. What benefit are you trying to gain doing it this way? The only reason I can see is if your wife needs an earned income to qualify for something like a Roth IRA, but since you also talked about paying yourself I assume that's not your goal.
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Anything you "write off" paying yourself/your wife will have to them be claimed as income....so generally it's a wash but just more paperwork and complexity.