Realestate.com Blog  »  Tax Corner

Tax Corner: Military Capital Gains Exclusion, Sale to Related Parties

by on May 9, 2013

Today

Today’s first tax question comes from SFC P, an active-duty National Guardsman who came up to me on a .50-caliber qualification range today and asked: “I know there is a way to exempt my home from capital gains taxes if I’ve been living in it for two out of the last five years and if I’ve owned it for long enough. I spent the last year in Afghanistan, though, and now I have to move again. Are there any special rules for military who’ve been deployed? . . .

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Installment Sales, Self-Directed Retirement Accounts and LLCs

by on April 11, 2013

Readers get answers to questions about installment sales, self-directed IRAs, LLCs and more

The first question this week comes from Ali, who writes: “We bought a piece of land in 2006 for $75,000. We sold it this year for $50,000. However, we did an owner-financing: 30-year fixed with a balloon in 5 years. A payment of $214 a month with a $4000 check in the beginning. So how do I file this land sold. Very confused!” . . .

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Back to Basics: What Property Expenses are Deductible?

by on March 28, 2013

Get the basics on what expenses are tax deductible for personal or investment properties

This week, I wanted to take a closer look at real estate tax questions that begin with the phrase, “Can I deduct,” and then mention the cost of fixing or upgrading something in the house. Sometimes the writer mentions that it’s a personal residence, and other times the writer doesn’t specify whether the property is a personal residence, an investment property, . . .

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Can I Deduct Losses From Money-Losing Rentals Against Other Income?

by on March 14, 2013

Learn more about rental property tax deductions

Welcome back to our Tax Corner column – where we take your tough, real estate-related tax conundrums and bring them to the attention of some of the top tax professionals in the country. Today’s question, along with a couple of follow-ups, comes from a reader named Heidi: “I bought a house in another state. I intend to move into it as soon as I can find a job in that area . . .

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When to Take Depreciation

by on February 28, 2013

This week

This week’s Tax Corner question comes to us from Rick Chase, who posted the question in a column on the taxation of real estate flipping: “I am new to real estate investing and recently purchased rental properties held by two separate LLCs. One of the LLCs is held in a self-directed IRA, and the other LLC is not held in an IRA. My question is not about taxation of . . .

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Deducting Rental Losses

by on February 14, 2013

Certain tax deductions are allowed for losses on a rental property

Today’s Tax Corner question comes to us from one of our reader comments: I am married and file jointly with my wife in N.J. I purchased a two-family house and spent about $40,000 renovating the rental apartment – I live in the other part of the home. I have a full-time job but spent most of my nights and weekends working on the house, making countless trips to . . .

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Passive Activity Rules, and Financing Property in an LLC

by on January 31, 2013

Find out what passive activity rules can mean for real estate investors, and get other tax advice

Rick is a beginning real estate investor in New York City. He owns a rental property in Tampa and is now in the process of closing a property in Jacksonville, Fla. Both properties are financed with conventional investment loans with 20 percent down. He wrote us with two questions: . . .

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Introduction to Tax Corner

by on January 17, 2013

real estate tax q&a

Welcome to a new feature on RealEstate.com, where you get to control more of the content. A recent article on tax and investment property raised some issues – and you folks started writing in the comment thread with your questions. I got answers to some, but there were more questions than I could keep up with and do justice to. It was clear that . . .

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