Real Estate Investor · Cebu, Philippines · Member since 2008 · 297 posts · 5 votes
I am new to real estate so please fill me in as much as possible..
First off can I write off meals if I am talking about Real Estate? Pf so is it only my meal or if there are two of us can I write of both of them?
What about mileage when I am out looking for houses to buy.. I drive all the time searching for properties and I would love to get a deduction from it.
My cell phone? Ya or nay?
Actually if some could give me a list of do's and dont's I would be very thank full.
Residential Landlord · Indianapolis, IN · Member since 2010 · 592 posts · 138 votes
14y
I am not a tax adviser, and you should ask someone who is, but here is my understanding.
If it is for business, you can usually deduct it.
Meals: if it is you and your real estate agent, attorney, title agent, insurance agent, property manager, etc. and you are discussing your investing, it is probably deductible. If it is you and your spouse or date and you mention you invest in real estate, you can't deduct it.
Mileage: This is a tricky one. You cannot deduct a commute, so if you don't have a home office and you drive from home to your property, you can't deduct it, but if you have a home office you could. As for searching for a property to buy, you can add it to the cost of the property once you close and then depreciate over 27.5 years for residential real estate. I am unsure of how you would deduct the mileage for investigating or searching for a property which you do not purchase.
Cell Phone: You can deduct the percentage of your bill which is attributable to business calls.
Again, this is just my understanding so you should talk to your tax adviser to get better answers which you can rely on.