Recommendations for NYC based CPA ?

Question

Does anyone here have recommendations for a New York City based CPA or lawyer with experience structuring multiple businesses?  I am investing in out of state land where I plan to eventually build a vacation home with rental income potential.  I am also a self employed consultant.

I am trying to weigh my options as to whether I should use one LLC with DBAs, or two separate entities.  I understand that having a devoted LLC for the land would be prudent, but I'm curious as to whether there would be tax advantages to keeping everything together as there will be substantial expenses going into the building of the home.

Any advice would be so appreciated.

Nicholas Aiola · Answer

Thanks @Dmitriy Fomichenko.

@Naomi T. Feel free to PM me with any questions you may have. Happy to help!

Dmitriy Fomichenko · Answer

Naomi,

talk to @Nicholas Aiola, he is frequent contributor here on the forum and is based in New York.

Naomi T. · Answer

@Basit Siddiqi

Hi Basit,

I was planning to have one entity hold and manage the property.  The other entity is my consulting practice (I'm the sole owner).  My thinking was that if these two entities shared the same LLC, but had distinct DBAs, then my expenses with the real estate (land purchase, engineering consultants, architect and construction costs, etc.) might be offset somewhat by my consulting income.

I do plan to use the vacation home personally and rent it out.  One thought that crossed my mind is whether I could actually rent the property from my LLC just like anyone else, but I'm unclear if this is acceptable practice...

Basically, I am wondering whether coupling my consulting practice and real estate venture under the same LLC (or corporation) would provide tax benefits.  There will be substantial real estate expenses the first couple of years, which I hope would reduce the taxable income from my consulting practice...

Basit Siddiqi · Answer

@Naomi T.If you have 2 entities - do you plan to have one entity hold the property and the other entity manage the property? You may want to speak with an attorney to see if your assets would be protected in this case. The fact that you use vacation home(personal in nature) may make this case a little more unique.

When you bring up vacation home - do you mean that this will be a home that you use from time to time throughout the year and plan to rent it during times that you are not using it? or is this a property that you will not use and use as a short-term rental?The reason for the question is that they may be treated slightly different for tax purposes. If your goal is financial freedom to obtain as much rental income + tax benefits as possible - you may want to consider keeping it 100% a rental and just rent out a different home when you want to visit the area in question.

Please also be mindful that the cost that you pay to purchase the land and build on it will be added to the basis of the property and depreciated(possibly prorated if vacation home) over its useful life.

Recommendations for NYC based CPA ?

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