Top Ten Year End Tax Planning Checklist

TOP TEN YEAR END TAX PLANNING CHECKLIST

1. If you own a business, do you have an EIN number, operating agreement, and a separate bank account?

2. Have you recorded all the income and expenses related to the business on the business bank account? This is a huge audit item for 2011.

3. If you own investment property that was foreclosed or sold as a short sale, have you considered the impact of the cancellation of debt income on your individual income taxes? Have you calculated the loss of sale of investment property?

4. If you generated any kind of active real estate income, have you considered restructuring your business to minimize the impact of self employment taxes?

5. If you have significant real estate education expenses, have you registered a business in order to minimize your audit exposure on deducting these expenses?

6. If you have significant business expenses and already have a registered business, have you considered converting to a partnership to avoid an audit flag?

7. For homes that have been repossessed, do you know the rules on recourse vs. non-recourse debt?

8. Do you understand what your tax filing requirements are for the states where your business is registered such as annual filing, personal property tax returns, etc.?

9. If you own investment property, have you considered doing a cost-segregation study in order to increase your depreciation expense?

10. If you bought or sold property in 2011, have you considered the impact of capital gains, adding rehab expenses to the basis of the property, and whether the holding costs (mortgage interest, taxes, and insurance) are deductible in 2011?

Lear more about Year end tax planning on this WEBINAR