Every Landlord's Tax Deduction Guide

I had a passive activity loss carryover and couldn't decide if it was eligible. Not only did a call to an accountant confirm that it was not cause for concern, but this book spelled it out in detail and cited the applicable tax rule on page 56 that could be used if necessary. I am now relieved and know what to do.

As a small landlord, I'm always looking for helpful and practical advice, particularly if it helps with taxes, expenses or property management. I had planned to share this review before April 15, in the hope that it would prove helpful to other small landlords. Unfortunately, as it got closer to April 15, I ran out of time!So for those of you who did get extensions or are looking into help for the next tax season, I'm hoping that you'll have time to read Every Landlord's Tax Deduction Guide.I've been summarizing particularly helpful chapters for myself and my partners. But it's the sort of book that's helpful to read through once and keep on hand as specific incidents occur.Every Landlord's Tax Deduction Guide is divided into 20 chapters. The Guide begins with an explanation of how landlords are taxed and list which taxes specifically apply to landlord investors and those that actively manage their properties ("business owner"). The guide then discusses the requirements that must be met before operating expenses can be considered deductible and a discussion of the operating expenses that are not deductible. The next chapters discuss how the IRS treats repairs to the property and compares their tax treatment to that of improvements to the property. Subsequent chapters discuss in detail the more complicated deduction of depreciation, interest, start-up expenses, travel expenses, car and transportation expenses, labor expenses (differentiating between employees and independent contractors), as well as casualty and theft losses. What I particularly appreciated about the Guide is that it flags the IRS forms and publications that are relevant to specific complicated situations, such that I know what to research and I need to file when specific situations occur.Also much appreciated are the chapters on record keeping and accounting as well as the final chapter which covers information from the IRS and various online resources.Every Landlord's Tax Deduction Guide is well worth the $35 that I'd paid for it. I am encouraging my landlord friends to get copies for themselves.ISBN-10: 1413319270 - Paperback $35Publisher: NOLO; Tenth Edition edition (November 29, 2013), 536 pages.

I purchased my first rental properties in late 2012. Then I purchased this book. Wish I had done it the other way around. After reading it, I realized dealing with the IRS while being a landlord was much more complicated then I ever imagined. The book is an excellent source of information. It takes a very complicated rules and regulations process and simplifies it as much as possible. It uses examples and charts to help illustrate major points. I used tax software to help me do my 2012 taxes, but would not have been successful without constantly referring to the book's examples. One small criticism - A lot of text is devoted to tax laws for real-estate professionals. I believe this information would have been better placed in a separate book. I strongly recommend this book to anyone thinking about becoming a landlord.

The author does a very good job explaining how to document and record expenses that may be deductible. The book is written in the clear Nolo style that will not overly burden the reader with technical descriptions. I found the information to be clear and it helped me to prepare the correct documents to present to my CPA. Some expenses are deductible and some must be spread out over the span of ownership and the author does a great job of explaining the differences. A very good explanation of depreciation methods is also found in this book.

I recommend reading this book after you have SOME grasp of deductions - I think it makes you appreciate it more. The vague concepts you've heard from Youtube videos - the cost segregation and all that - becomes clearer reading this book, since it's so detailed. If you want just quick facts, this book is perhaps too detailed. Long read but worth the read.

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Bought my first rental this year and was dreading taxes. I anticipated adding a rental into the mix would be a challenge, which made me apprehensive. I thought about having a pro do my taxes this year, but didn't want to spend the $300-$400 to have someone else do what I should and, hopefully, couldbe doing myself. Since I decided to take a stab at doing my taxes this year, I decided I would buy this book to aid me in what I thought was a nightmare.Long story short, this is the best book I've ever purchased. This is the only book I've bought that has paid for itself several times over. The information in here has given me so much insight on what I can deduct and how to do it.I did my taxes using TurboTax, which is pretty decent software. However, TurboTax is like a cake without frosting and this book is the frosting that makes it so much better. The book explains things in good detail that TurboTax summarizes. TurboTax tries to make things easy and simple, while this book explains why easy and simple isn't always the best or beneficial. Here's an example: TurboTax says you should use your property tax bill to determine your basis for depreciation. Property tax bills are notorious for lowballing values. The book says this and goes on to explain that there are several ways of determining your basis. I happened to use my own calculation, which nets me more depreciation. I used swiftestimator to calc my replacement value/basis. Costs $12, but very much worth it.I couldn't be more pleased with this book. I think you'll feel the same. Don't hesitate on this one.