Tax treatment of gain on lease options

[Andy Bauman]

Hey All!  I hope you had a great 4th of July!

I'm hoping any of you tax experts can help me out with something...

I have a piece of unimproved property under contract right now in TN, for simplicity's sake let's say it is under contract for $10k.  I have a few options to sell the property and I'm curious what the tax implications are for these scenarios:

1. Straight sale ASAP - Sell for $20k, $10k gain is taxed at regular income (which for me is 24%).  I think I understand this one pretty clearly.

2. Straight sale in 1 year - Sell for $20k.  $10k gain is taxed at long term capital gains which is 15% for me.

3.  Lease option & finance - Sell for $22k.  Get a $2k option payment upfront, then 1 year and 1 day later sell property for $18k with a $8k down payment and $500 a month.  How and when is the gain recognized?  Are the capital gain and gains from financing treated separately?

4.  Lease option - Sell for $20k.  Get a $2k option payment upfront, then 1 year and 1 day later sell property for $18k.  How and when is the gain recognized?

5. Sell ASAP & finance - Sell for $22k.  Get a $10k down payment and collect $500 a month.  How and when is the gain recognized?  Are the capital gain and gains from financing treated separately?

Thanks all for any help!  I'm trying to figure out the best way to structure these deals as I'm hoping to have a lot more of them.