LLC Entity Debt to income ratio and itemizing taxes

[Johnathon Hendon]

Hello,

I'm a fairly new investor.

I recently formed a baby LLC. I currently own 2 properties under my name. (Not under my LLC)

1 of them was bought with a VA loan 2 years ago that's being rented out for a positive cash flow of $200. (With a VA loan I can't have it under LLC)

The other property was bought under my name as well about a week ago. The loan officer told me that the business had no history to get approved for a loan. The property will go through construction to add a new bedroom and a new bathroom to increase the rent price.

I will eventually deed the 2nd property over to my LLC to create history and track the positive cash flow I will have with it.

My CPA that I used for last year worked his magic and made sure that on "paper"(tax returns) I made no money from the 1st rental property. I owed no money basically.. (Right? haha I'm not 100% sure if that's right)

Not too long ago I learned about Debt to income ratio and how crucial it is to new investors like me. Basically, I learned that I need 2 years of rental history with positive cash flow to be able to count rental income as "income". (with banks)

Right now, the only income that reflects to the banks when I ask for a loan is my jobs' income. They told me that my debt is too high on the debt to income ratio and they will not count the income from rental properties unless I have 2 years of tax returns showing it on schedule E.

Ok, now my question is... 

If my CPA keeps doing his magic and itemize it to where it reflects I made 0$ for that year, wil it still create history for my LLC where the Bank wil recognize the rental monthly income and include my rental income in the Debt to Income Ratio? Like can I go to th ebank and say, "Hey I've been doing this for couple of years now and although my schedule E says I made 0 dollars every year, I'm getting positive cash flow every month"

or should I just not itemize all the deductions ? I.E. mileage, business expenses, interest, etc.

I don't know if you guys will understand my question because even myself, pretty confused and know not much about it haha.

I've been tracking all the business mileages, receipts, statements to itemize my return but I don't know if I should if it's going to affect me negatively.

Thank you biggerpockets members!

[Natalie Kolodij]

Any good rental should ultimately show $0 income on paper. This is the beauty of rentals for several reasons. 

The biggest part of this should be depreciation- which is a non cash expense. But one you get to deduct. So that's what sweet is at the end of the year you can still have made money- but on paper show a loss due to depreciation. 

When you're applying for a loan lendesr will ADD BACK depreciation in the calculation. So they realize that it kind of distorts how actually profitable your property is. So you should be fine. I would chat with an awesome lender regarding this. 

I recently had someone ask me if they could just not report expenses to show higher income and the answer is no- It's filing a false tax return. And manipulating your income to qualify for a mortgage you wouldn't have if you filed correctly. 

Hope this helps!