Can i switch from active participation to not active

[Po Hsiao]

I have read a lot about advantage of claim "active participation", but no article about any pros on NOT claiming active participation.

I have placed a couple of properties in service in 2019 and will have a loss that can offset up to 25,000 active income assuming i claim active participation (I am not a real estate professional and I know I cannot claim "material participation").  I will also have about 5,000 in suspended losses to carryover to 2020.

I am planning to retire this year (2020) and will have very little active income.  So if i again claim active participation on my rental properties, and apply all my losses and include suspended losses from 2019, i will have zero income before standard deduction.   Should i claim in 2020 that I am NOT "active participation", so that the rental loss does not offset my income?   Because a lot of rental loss is depreciation, which will be recaptured, does it make financial sense to NOT use the rental loss, so that if i sell my property next year, this will reduce the amount of recapture gain?

Scenario

2020 - Expected active income from W2 job is 25,000

2020 - After taking rental loss of 25,000 (assume 15,000 of it is depreciation), my income(AGI) becomes 0.  After standard deduction 24,800(married filing jointly), I have a negative taxable income of -24800 which is same as 0, meaning I don't get any bonus points for having large negative income.  Result is I claimed 15,000 depreciation which when I sell, i have to pay tax at ordinary income tax rate.

If i do not claim "active participation", then the 25,000 will be carried forward as "suspended loss", and if i sell my property next year, the 15,000 depreciation that was not used can work to reduce my depreciation recapture income / tax.  In this scenario, my 2020 AGI will be approximately 25,000 and after standard deduction, my taxable income will be approximately 0, and I still have no federal income tax liability for 2020.

Follow on question is, can i claim "active participation" for one tax year (2019), and switch to claim NOT "active participation" the next year (2020) and hope this does not raise any ire with IRS, and is good tax planning.