I have been doing a lot of research lately on accounting. I plan to open a separate set of bank accounts for my investment properties (I currently have none): one checking for operational expenses, one savings for tenant deposits not to be comingled with any other money, and one savings for cashflow, capex, repairs, and possible vacancies that can be transferred to the checking when payouts are needed.
My question is, if the cash that I am collecting into these accounts is not used for the line items that they are being reserved for (i.e. no repairs are needed) do I get taxed on the the balances as earned income?
The point to reserving all of this money on a month to month basis is to build up enough money to cover the large ticket items as they come up. It seems like a shame to be responsible by withholding the money but get taxed on it as if I were going to add it to my income.
