And wages are simply not growing at any rate to create relief. 

Therefore, we report income that we earned during the year, which includes wages earned from January to December.We would also include the roth conversion that is done during the year.It depends on how much of a conversion you do, how much other income you have, what state you live in, your filing status, etcBest of luck

I have talked to my CPA and we qual for a real estate professional and want to use the report to help off set W-2 wages.  

Thought I was gonna get paid thru EDD and didn't go thru and was out almost 12k of wages.

I’ve had similar situation twice First time I contacted the sheriffs dept. they garnished his wages and paid me The other time years later they went to get a mortgage and had to pay me off including interest and penalties before they could get the loan as the judgement appeared on their credit report   I don’t know if it showed up on their credit report I know my lawyer got a judgement against them About 4 years later my Atty sent me a check for all back money due as well as penalties and interest  

You open yourself to a lot of options if your spouse if able to claim real estate professional status.That means all your rental activities(that you can group together) will be treated as active instead of passive.With the help of cost segregation studies, you can utilize the added losses to offset your other income such as wages, interest, dividends, etc.

I am completely debt free and make a pretty comfortable wage, at the moment I am currently saving for a down payment. 

Are you maxing out retirement account matches and Roth IRA or backdoor Roth if you are a high income earner?

Wage suppression since the 1970s.NIMBY.  

It is disheartening to witness a mentorship program that boasts substantial financial success, with students allegedly earning substantial monthly incomes, yet fails to ensure that their own employees receive even the minimum wage they are entitled to.