Rental Property Tax Strategies - First Time Filling

[Josh M.]

I apologize in advance for the number of questions. I have tried to phrase them in such a way that it provides my conclusion and I am mostly looking for confirmation.

If a CPA wants to do a quick review my return and do a Q&A session over the phone in the next week, I will be happy to Venmo you for your "unofficial" review. PM me.

My main concern is setting up something incorrectly that is going to cause headaches down the line or leave tax benefits on the table.


Top Level Info:
- Located in Texas
- Married filing jointly; we both have W2 jobs
- Converted primary residence into rental, placed in service on 3/15/2019
- Rental Income is labeled as "Passive Activity", "Active Participant"
- Net Income reported is showing 0
- Loss of ~4,400 (paid 2018 property taxes in 2019)
- Using TaxAct

General Questions:

- Qualified Joint Venture: I set up the business under me only. I owned the home before we were married so everything is in my name and am the more "active" participant in operating the rental property. Is there any benefit to setting up the rental as a "Qualified Joint Venture" between my wife and I vs. solely under me?

- Personal Use: If I am understanding the guidance properly, I do NOT need to input any thing for Personal Use since it was placed into service after we moved out. Correct?

- Repair Regulation Elections: I currently do not have any selected. Is there any benefit to choosing to Capitalize or the Small Taxpayer Harbor (I don't fully understand the requirements)?

- Mortgage Costs: I claimed the 10 months it was in service. Should I claim the entire year since I technically owned the asset?

- Asset acquired before 1987: The house was built before 1987 but I acquired the property in 2011 so I would answer it was acquired after 1987. Correct?

- Amortization: I am currently claiming nothing. Are there items that are typically claimed on former primary residences that have been converted into rental?

- Section 199A: I selected Section 199A and I do not believe it should be labeled as Safe Harbor since I did not spend more than 250 hours performing rental services. Correct?

- Qualified Business Income Deduction / Adjustment: Answering the TaxAct prompts yielded $0 for 2019. Is that to be expected given my situation?


Depreciation Questions:

- Cost Basis: There have not been any material improvements since purchasing. My understanding is to take purchase price in 2011 * % of the house/improvement value from my current tax assessment?

- Straight Line vs. Alternative: TaxAct and my reading suggested Straight Line since it is 100% business use. Correct?

- Asset Life Years: TaxAct suggested 27.5 years. I plan to keep this as a rental long term (10+ years). The home was built in 1979, purchased by me in 2011. Does that seem correct?