Tax filings with properties in and out of LLCs in Houston, TX

[Armand Farr]

Hi BP - need your help with this situation (our properties are in Houston, TX if that matters):

- Properties A and B: Both were held by three partners in our own names individually (never held in an LLC)

- Property C: The last property was held in Acme LLC with FOUR, different partners then transferred to our names individually upon refinancing because lenders wouldn't lend

Questions - Gotten conflicting answers on all of these
1. Property A, B, C: Do we have to file three separate partnership returns or can we just file individually? A and B had the same partners, C had one additional partner. Or can we just distribute the profits and losses to our returns via a schedule E without the partnership returns?
2. Property C: Do we need to file an LLC AND a partnership return for the last property given we held it in an LLC and individually?
3. How to Not Get Killed on Costs: If we have to file partnership returns for all of these... that's a lot of money and it burns through cashflow on relatively cheap Houston properties. Does anyone have a better way to do this?

[Kevin Wood]

@Armand Farr the IRS doesn't care about title. If you have an LLC and an agreement that income/expense from the property is part of the LLC then filed the revenue under that LLC. In general you don't want to carry properties individually for liability and legal purposes. If you want to do it super legit that gets past lenders as well as puts it under the LLC then put the property in the trust and change the trustee to the LLC after the refinance.