Philadelphia Tax Abatement Help

[Trent Johns]

This question is for all my Philly folks out there who have experience with flipping and specifically filing for the 10-year tax abatement. I'd really appreciate the help!

I am flipping a single family house right now, and I am trying to submit the abatement application today. I did not realize that 12/31 is the deadline, so I'm scrambling to make sure I have everything done correctly. The application is pretty self-explanatory, but my question is more about "box 8" where it says "Owner's Business Privilege Tax No." I own the property in an LLC, but honestly, I don't have the LLC filed with the city of Philadelphia. So I don't have an Activity License or a Philadelphia Tax Account Number. I guess I didn't do my homework well enough, but I also did not realize in Philly you have to pay the Business Income and Receipts Tax and the Net Profits Tax. It seems like these amount to 10%.

For someone who has experience doing this, do I need to get a Philadelphia Tax Account Number, put it on the abatement application, and then plan to file the BIRT and NPT taxes by 4/15? The one caveat here is that even though I own the property in an LLC, there's a 50% chance my wife and I move into it. I guess in that case, I'd have no profit to report...I don't know, this is all pretty confusing. I don't get how anyone could make money flipping when you have to pay another ~10% of random taxes to Philly...on top of state and federal. What gives?