Advice/CPA for House Hack STR

[Jorge Alcaraz]

Hi I’m wondering if anyone has tax experience doing a short term rental in a house hack? I just purchased a duplex as a house hack and I’m looking to use the short term strategy to deduct against my W-2. Has anyone done this? 

Also looking for recommendations on a CPA that can help me navigate the renovation and rental. 

Thanks in advance! This is my first property. Any advice or recommendations help! 

[Ryan Thomson]

For a pure rental property you can depreciate the the purchase price of the house minus the value of the land divided by 27.5. For a house hack, you can then depreciate that number by the percentage of square feet that your home is used as purely a rental. For a duplex it would be 50%.

Examples. 450k purchase price. Land is 50k. you have a duplex and live in one side by yourself and rent the other.

450k-50k =400k

400k/27.5 = 14,545

14,545/2 = 7,272.

You can deduct $7,272 from your RENTAL INCOME each year. Or in other words the first $7,272 you make is tax free. You of course have to make that much in rental income to deduct that much. I think it carries forward if you don't use it all though. You really need to talk to an accountant if this is something you want to do. They are worth every penny!