All Forum Posts by: Dean Shahriari

Looking for a tax preparer (CPA or EA) who can file my 2024 tax return by the October 15 deadline.

Here’s a little more about our situation:

Historically, our returns have been simple. We’re a double W-2 family who was unable to itemize since the 2017 TCJA decreased the SALT limit and increased standard deductions. Filed my own returns in the past.

Bought a STR in 2024. Generally pretty good on recordkeeping- both in time spent materially participating (for us and others for qualification purposes) and finances for the STR.

Decided to do an engineering-based, in person cost seg study at the last minute and do short term loophole with 60% bonus depreciation.

I tried to do our return and was struggling, so I procrastinated. My mistake.

Unfortunately, we are running out of time and would like to hire someone. Happy to discuss long-term tax advisory services as well, but have been turned off by the subscription-based packages with minimal actual contact with an advisor, and would rather pay hourly or by the project.

Anyone available?

That is how I would read the law when seeing “individual” vs “person.”  

That said, given my fact pattern of a condotel- how do I even try to allocate each individual who might be employed by the management company vs the number of units in the building.

For example- if there are 2 front desk employees per shift and 3 shifts per day (so 48 hours per day overall), and there are 200 units in the building, is it fair to allocate 0.24 hours per day (87.6 hours per year) to my unit? If so, that is still divided among 6 people (assuming no turnover in staffing or temporary staffing).  

With respect to cleaning crews- I suspect the analysis would involve the number of actual stays per year, the average time per cleaning and number of people in the crew to get an appropriate number of hours dedicated to my unit. 

I have to imagine the individuals who are “competing” with me for most time spent are the cleaning crew and front desk personnel, but there are others that are involved- e.g., maintenance personnel, other resort/hotel staffing, management company employees, etc. 

 None of these people are likely to have over 100 hours per year dedicated to my unit. That was part of the reason I would like to see the case law- it might helps clarify how the IRS and court interpreted it. 

I can see, however, if you have a small management company where one person does everything (e.g., cleaning, restocking, shopping for stocked items, maintenance, billing), the Taxpayer would have a hard time proving no one had more time spent on the business. 

I also wonder what activities of mine would qualify if typical investor-type activities are not counted. So, is my time spent posting a link to the unit on a third-party website for additional traffic acceptable? Also, is my time dealing with the management company to reserve my own unit for my third-party-website booked stays allowed? Is my keeping a ledger of income from all sites and sources included? What about prepping my records for my CPA?

You state “The involvement of onsite management, often seen as a potential red flag, can lead to the property failing crucial qualification tests.”

Can you elaborate or refer me to any ruling or tax code that addresses this?

I am looking at a condotel investment in a tourist resort, which for all intents and purposes would be treated as a STR and I do not plan to personally use the unit. From gross rentals, a license fee (to use a well known brand hotel), and a management fee are deducted before I would receive my net rental income, which would pay for the mortgage, taxes, insurance, and HOA costs.

I am trying to figure out if this setup would be treated as a substantial service subject to schedule C, or if I could use Schedule E. I would also like to understand your comment above before deciding whether this investment makes sense for me. 

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide