Taxes and depreciation question

[Matt Lord]

I’m a newbie here. Been listening to tons of the BP podcasts and I read a bunch of books. But my mind is somewhat simple. I’m having some trouble understanding a few things.

My wife works full time, I recently walked away from my job as a teacher. I’d like to do do fix and rents full time. We file jointly and my rentals are getting transferred into an entity in January.

Could somebody explain, in relativity simple terms, the MAIN tax benefits of owning rentals.

Is building depreciation and component depreciation different things? Can you claim them both or do you have to select one or the other?

How is rental income taxed? Is it taxed the same as earned income?

If I’m personally and physically doing the rehab work, management and maintenance, and everything else, will I be considered self-employed and be subject to SS, Medicare and all the other joyful taxes?

What’s the basic formula or strategy to drastically reduce or eliminate paying income taxes on my rental income?

Should I consider forming an LLC that would be my "construction business" which would be payed by my rental LLC for doing all of the rehab work. Or should I just do the purchasing, rehabs and management all through a single entity?