All Forum Posts by: Michael Plaks

@Sai Krishna Byra

Absolutely do sign up. Then, in a few months, you will realize why you need to pay real money for real advice. :)

Thank you for the shout out, @Basit Siddiqi

@David Bates

Contact @Nicholas Aiola or @Basit Siddiqi. Warning: they may be unavailable the next few days due to an IRS deadline.

@Rich Hupper

Amazing that within so many answers only @Kate J. raised the critical question. You're a broker. How much is your net income from being a broker and other active businesses? If over $130k - then you should really stop worrying about the self-employment tax on the flips, as you would have maxed out on its biggest component: Soc Security.

Next, two minimal participation flips might (it's case by case) escape the self-employment tax if they qualify as short-term capital transactions rather than a bona fide flipping business. I'm not saying it will work in your case, but it is a possibility to look into.

1031 exchanges do not apply to flips.

C-corporations and retirement plans like 401k cut your access to the money, other than using it for future deals. You cannot spend this money to pay your bills.

Also, corporations, both S and C, create a lot of complexity that may or may not be worth the hassle.

Short story: a professional business needs a professional tax advisor.

@Llewelyn A.

1. Pay for the cell phone from your personal account.
2. Create a simple company policy (in writing, obviously) that the company does not provide cell phones, and employees are required to use their personal phones for company business and will be reimbursed up to $x/month.
3. Issue these monthly reimbursements by transferring money from business to personal account.
4. Deduct them as company expense.

If you want to take it one notch up, you can have monthly reimbursement requests submitted to the company.

I'd limit this setup to one company, as doing a multi-company split is not worth the hassle. The company that does the majority of management-type activities.

@Thadeous Larkin

Reach out to @Dave Holland, he is in Homer

 yes

@Casey Sung

An excellent NY CPA, @Nicholas Aiola, already responded to you. Other choices are @Taylor Brugna and @Basit Siddiqi.

@Brenda Whittaker

If you're in AZ, why would you be looking at a Dallas deal, being a relatively new investor, I assume?

Out-of-state deals are really for the experienced investors.

That said, yes, it's absolutely worth spending a few hundreds to get the contracts reviewed. Wholesalers often use sketchy paperwork, and it's dangerous to roll a dice on it.

For recommendation, ask in the Dallas forum.

@LaVorges Thomas

Reach out to @Steven Hamilton II, however with 2 weeks before the IRS deadline, all accountants are crazy busy. 

If you're open to a remote business relationship, you can consider any of the 15+ tax accountants who answer questions on this forum. We're all real estate experts.