how to pay w2 from rental property passive income

[Daniel Liu]

We owned S Corp with rental properties. All rental incomes are passive. We hired an employee as property manager. Can we pay him w-2 from rental income? Thanks for your help.

[Account Closed]

This sounds like a CPA question, which I'm not, so please verify with your accountant.  Any entity or person can hire an employee so you can pay him a W-2.  Based on your question, it sounds like all the rental properties are owned under the S-Corp.  If that's the case, the S-Corp hires the employee and pays him.  The employee salary is a deduction against rental income.