All Forum Posts by: Joseph Palmiero

Generally yes if you meet several requirements such as, your rental activities qualify as a business, you use your home office exclusively for your rental business, you use your home office on a regular basis, plus a few other requirements.

The money will not be taxable to you. 

Your family member may need to consult an attorney regarding Gift Taxes and consider the impact on elder care planning depending on their age.

The IRS requires businesses to send a 1099 to individuals that are paid $600 or more for services performed.  This is done in January for the previous year.  You are also requied to send a copy to the IRS.

No real tax benefits for the buyer vs. bank financing.  

The seller gets to defer a portion of the tax liability to future years instead of paying them all in the year of sale.

Your rents received minus your rental expenses will be taxed.  Don't forget to include interest expense and depreciation in your expenses.

You can deduct 1/4 of the real estate taxes.  This is the amount owed by you from October 1st until the end of the year.  The other portion would be added to the cost of the property and depreciated.  

The insurance can be deducted in full.

The carpet is 5 year property.  And yes, to be considered placed into service it must be inhabital and advertised for rent.

You need to have at least two guest stays that average 7 days or less.

As far as accounting, I would recommend to keep things simple at first and use a spreadsheet to keep track of your income and expenses.  Once you get a few more properties then you can upgrade to a more sophisticated accounting system.