The tax advantages of being a landlord
Are you sure you want to be a landlord? I have clients who love to
regale me with stories about their fun experiences with tenants. Like
the one who took almost every fixture when he moved out: carpeting,
curtain rods, towel bars, you name it — even a toilet, believe it or
not.
Indeed, putting up with tenants can be a real pain. But that negative
consideration is offset by improving real estate markets in many areas
and favorable tax rules that aren't available for other types of
investments. In fact, favorable tax rules are a big reason why so many
fortunes are made in real estate. The other big reason is that
leveraging real-estate investments with mortgage debt can greatly
multiply the upside potential.
But let’s stick to taxes here. This article is the first of several on
the most important tax issues that landlords need to understand.
What you can write off
I’m sure you already know you can deduct mortgage interest and real
estate taxes on rental properties. However, if you pay mortgage points,
you must amortize them over the term of the loan (unlike points on a
mortgage to purchase a principal residence, which you can deduct
immediately).
You can also write off all the other standard operating expenses that go
along with owning a rental property: utilities, insurance, repairs and
maintenance, yard care, association fees, and so forth.
The real kicker is that you can depreciate the cost of residential
buildings over 27.5 years, even while they are (you hope) increasing in
value. Say your rental property—not including the land—cost $200,000.
The annual depreciation deduction is $7,273, which means you can have
that much in positive cash flow without owing any income taxes. That is a
nice benefit, especially if you own several properties. Commercial
buildings must be depreciated over a much-longer 39-year period, but the
depreciation write-offs will still shelter some of your cash flow from
taxes.
Beware of the dreaded passive loss rules
If your rental property throws off a tax loss—and most do, at least
during the early years—things get complicated. The so-called passive
activity loss (PAL) rules will usually apply. In general the PAL rules
only allow you to deduct passive losses to the extent you have passive
income from other sources—like positive operating income from other
rental properties or gains from selling them. Passive losses in excess
of passive income are suspended until you either have more passive
income or you sell the property or properties that produced the losses.
Bottom line: the PAL rules can postpone rental property loss deductions,
sometimes for many years. Fortunately, there are several exceptions
that can allow you to deduct losses sooner rather than later. I’ll cover
those exceptions in a future article.
What if I have income?
Eventually your rental properties should start throwing off positive
taxable income instead of losses, because escalating rents will surpass
your deductible expenses. Of course, you must pay income taxes on those
profits. But if you piled up suspended passive losses in earlier years,
you now get to use them to offset your passive profits.
Another nice thing: positive taxable income from rental real estate
isn't hit with the dreaded self-employment (SE) tax, which applies to
most other unincorporated profit-making ventures. The SE tax rate can be
up to 15.3%, so it is a wonderful thing when you don’t have to pay it.
One bad thing: thanks to a provision in the 2010 health care
legislation, positive passive income from rental real estate can get
socked with the new 3.8% Medicare surtax on net investment income.
However, this new tax only hits upper-income folks. Consult your tax
adviser for the full story.
Taxpayer-friendly rules when you sell
When you sell a property you’ve owned for more than one year, the profit
(the difference between the net sales proceeds and the tax basis of the
property after subtracting depreciation deductions) is generally
treated as a long-term capital gain. As such, it will be taxed at a
federal rate of no more than 20% (or 23.8% if you owe the 3.8% Medicare
surtax). However, part of the gain—an amount equal to the cumulative
depreciation deductions claimed for the property—is subject to a 25%
maximum federal rate (28.8% if you owe the 3.8% Medicare surtax). The
rest of your gain will be taxed at a maximum federal rate of no more
than 20% (or 23.8%). Don’t forget that you may also owe state income tax
on real estate gains (and NYC tax for properties in the Big Apple).
On the other hand, it is important to remember that rental property
appreciation isn't taxed until you actually sell. Good properties can
generate the kind of compound tax-deferred growth that investors dream
about. You can even pocket part of your appreciation in advance by
taking out a second mortgage against your property or refinancing it
with a bigger first mortgage. Such cash-out deals are tax-free.
You also have the option of selling appreciated real estate on the
installment plan by taking back a note for part of the sale price. Then
your taxable gain can be spread over several years. You can charge the
buyer interest on the deferred payments, but you generally don’t have to
pay interest to the government on your deferred gain.
Remember those suspended passive losses we talked about earlier? You can
use them to shelter gains from selling appreciated properties.
Finally, the tax law allows real estate owners to unload appreciated
properties while deferring the federal income hit indefinitely. Here we
are talking about so-called “like-kind exchanges” which are also known
as “Section 1031 exchanges” (named after the applicable Internal Revenue
Code section). With a like-kind exchange, you swap the property you
want to unload for another property (the so-called replacement
property). You’re allowed to put off paying taxes until you sell the
replacement property. Or when you’re ready to unload the replacement
property, you can arrange yet another like-kind exchange and continue
deferring taxes. While you cannot cash in your real-estate investments
by making like-kind exchanges, you can trade holdings in one area for
properties in more-promising locations. In fact, the like-kind exchange
rules give you tons of flexibility when selecting replacement
properties. For example, you could swap several single-family rental
houses for an apartment building, a shopping center, raw land, or even a
golf course or marina.
The Bottom Line
As I said at the beginning, the tax rules for landlords are pretty
favorable, all things considered. I have a couple more articles in mind
for all you landlords and landlord wannabes out there, so please stay
tuned.
By Bill Bischoff
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