How to Save Taxes When Flipping Houses

Today, attorneys Toby Mathis, Esq., and Eliot Thomas, Esq., answer listener questions with a focus on optimizing tax outcomes for real estate investors and crypto enthusiasts. We explore strategies for handling income through complex entity structures, such as using an LLC and a C-corp to manage staking income and fund a 401(k). We also discuss the timing of LLC formation for crypto investments and how flipping houses can be structured within a C-corp or S-corp to minimize taxes. Listeners will learn about managing losses on short-term rental cabins, the implications of renting out a portion of your home, and the nuances of filing multiple LLC tax returns. Plus, we address how to handle passive losses if you're a real estate professional.

Submit your tax question to taxtuesday@andersonadvisors.com

Highlights/Topics:

• "As a tax strategy, let's say let's say I set up a trading LLC entity and a C-corp entity that owns 49% of the trading LLC. If the trading LLC makes around $10,000 in staking income, and the C-corp gets its $4900 as a partner in the trading LLC, then can the $4900 be used to fund a 401(k) owned by the C-corp? Is the income considered earned income or ordinary income? If it is ordinary income, can it be used to fund a 401(k)?" - By doing this, putting in the structures, we kept $4900 off the personal return. That's a victory.
• "I currently invest in crypto. I anticipate selling some of it sometime in 2025 with gain over a hundred thousand dollars or perhaps far greater." It's crypto. You could quadruple in a day. "What would be the best move for me right now? If I were to create my LLC, would I be taxed when I moved my crypto to the wallet for the LLC, all crypto would've been bought more than a year prior to selling? Should I create an LLC this year or wait until next? - If this was just a disregarded LLC, meaning it doesn't file its own tax return, it's basically that taxpayer, either way, when we put the money in, it's not taxable.
• "How do I save taxes on flipping houses? We have three houses we are flipping in the next few months." "How can we reduce the taxable income on these properties?" - We often would put our flipping activity maybe in a C-corporation, possibly an S-corporation. Why? A lot of ways to mitigate taxes with reimbursements, corporate meetings, wages that you use to contribute to a retirement plan.
• "I bought a short-term rental cabin in May of 2022 using 1031 funds. Rentals are beyond disappointing at this point. If we sell for at least $200,000 loss more than the gain on the 1031 funds, how does this play out regarding taxes?" - we may not know exactly what our loss is. Let's just assume we do have that loss. When we have losses, one thing we don't have to worry about is depreciation recapture because we have no gains.
• "I have multiple LLCs. Do I have to file multiple tax returns?" - it depends on how the LLC is taxed. If it's a disregarded entity, means it doesn't file a return. If I have seven LLCs and you're doing seven different tax returns, that doesn't make a lot of sense when you could set up a single entity to own them all.
• "I've had my primary residence for the past 21 years. If I rent it for three years or more and sell it, would I be taxed on the depreciation I take over those 3 years, or would it be included in the 121 exclusion?" - If it was exactly three years, then they could take advantage of that 121 if they were to sell it and maybe even 1031.
• "If I have a two-level house and I live in the upper level but Airbnb on the lower level, can I deduct the depreciation repair management of the lower level? Does it need to be a legal unit and have its own address?" Same question, but what if it was a long-term rental? - Because you have rental income coming in, you will be able to take these expenses - the depreciation, repair, and management. It's just a matter of how much.
• "If I am a real estate professional with over 750 hours actively acquiring properties, and I sell my other long-term rentals non-real estate investments, such as stocks, private equity, and venture capital investments, can the losses from my active or passive real estate investments offset gains on my other long term non-real estate investments?" - if you have passive income, it's passive income. If you have losses, it's passive losses. You can only use the passive losses to offset other passive income. So you may get losses trapped. We call it suspended passive activity loss rules.

Resources:

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