Going from Sole-Proprietor/Landlord to S-corp for self managing

[Susan O.]

I'm currently reorganizing and restructuring my rentals from being a sole-proprietor landlord to having an S-corp for managing properties.

I just set up S-corp for managin the properties January 2017. It's $800 per year to do an LLC in california so I'm just owning the properties in my own name with a lot of liability and property and rental insurance.

I was wondering about how you all set up your S - corp for tax purposes or a general 'dummies guide' to do it.  I don't want to overcomplicate things with multiple layers of LLCs/entities that I've seen some recommend here.

  Do you just have them as a management firm then do all writeoffs under the S -corp. Any advice or resources or general guides would help. This is my first time S corp as all my properties have been as partnerships under schedule E and or Sole proprietorship all my life. So the accounting is now new for S corp. I'd like to maximize tax writeoffs as well.

-how to set up myself as an 'employee'

-how to minimize taxes

-what are acceptable general writeoffs- i'd like to be very aggressive as we have a lot of rental income already

-can I writeoff a vehicle -for instance I have a small pickup that I just use for the rentals for hauling or lend to workers. 

Does anyone have suggestions or books or resources for S corp setup for property management or how to maximize writeoffs? I read Amy Hans book which I like a lot for the mindset, but I'd like more details on how to for S corp from sole-propeietorship and maximizing the writeoffs.

I already have a CPA who is pretty basic straight edge and not very aggressive.

Or any other recommendations?