Looking for Tax / Bookkeeping Help

[Chris Carrigan]

Got a quote for strategic plan and monthly maintenance from a CTS for $12k+ for first year. I'm just starting with a new STR and can't swing all that right now. So I'm looking for someone to just help with what I need now. Old, family home was gifted to us. This past year we decided to go ahead and fix it up and start renting it. The home is currently held in our names and we tentatively plan on doing a qualified joint venture. So I have been renovating for the past 14 months. Placed into service as an STR in the first week of November. I'll have at least 5 rentals averaging less than 7 days by the end of the year. Wife and I are both full time real estate agents. I'll have 500 hours in the rental by the end of the year. Want to place all the renovation purchases into their respective depreciation classes/schedules. So cost seg via receipts. What I need right now is book keeping assistance to get the purchases set up for depreciation, plus help in identifying basis for the home and some advice on if this is the best plan going forward. Also I've been using QB online, but apparently it doesn't do auto depreciation you have to manually subtract it each year, so is there a better software to use that will do it automatically after you have it all set up right? Willing to pay for what I need, helpful if in NC but not required.

[Michael Plaks]

@Chris Carrigan

With both spouses full-time agents and 5 rentals and rehabs - having a real estate accountant on your team seems essential. It is a substantial cost, but it is a cost of doing business. You seem to treat it as an optional luxury. I think it is more like insurance: costly but necessary and may save your behind. More here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/51/topics/1088325-expla...

QBO does not have a fixed asset module except for its most expensive level, QBO Advanced. For cheaper levels, google "Fixed Asset Manager app for QBO" - there are some 3rd party solutions.

But this was if you want to DIY it. Which is a bad idea, frankly, because depreciation has multiple options, and no software can do optimization for you. Ditto for optimizing what you called "cost seg via receipts."

Also, I agree with @Jake Baker's advice: don't bother with regular depreciation calculations at all. Enter it once a year, after your taxes have been prepared.