Seeking CPA with Deep Short-Term Rental Expertise

[Audrey Li]

Hello all,

I’m looking for a CPA who has extensive experience dealing with short-term rental tax strategies. Here’s our situation:

- I work full time as a W-2 employee.

- We are looking to buy a STR property in NH as soon as we finalize the paperwork needed, e.g. if we need LLC.

- My husband is a stay-at-home spouse and will handle much of the day-to-day operations for our short-term rental.

- We’re planning to ensure we materially participate (within a 2-hour radius of the property) so that the rental could be treated as non-passive.

- We’d like guidance on whether to hold our property in an LLC or simply in our personal names, including any tax advantages/disadvantages, liability considerations, and possible effects on financing.

I want to fully understand the trade-offs between both approaches. We’re also curious about local or state considerations that might apply.

If you have direct, in-depth experience advising clients with short-term rentals (and especially with the nuances of material participation and entity choice), please reach out. I'd love to discuss working together and appreciate any insights you can share. 

Thank you!

Audrey 

[Audrey Li]

Quote from @Aaron Zimmerman:

@Audrey Li - you've come to the right place. You also appear to have done a lot of research with the STR so it's great that you have a good understanding.

One thing that I'd like to highlight that you'll also want to talk with prospective CPAs is understanding which hours count and which hours don't for material participation. It is imperative that your CPA can guide you through this process and ideally has a template for you to follow. 

@Linda Weygant had a great comment as well, above.

Thank you Aaron! Makes sense. I started to record my market research and learning as hours yesterday. A streamlined process with CPA guidance makes a lot of sense. Have scheduled a couple of calls and will bring it up.