All Forum Posts by: Luke Stone

So the tax reform just got its first approval, but I’ve been trying to read up and understand how this will affect my rental property real estate taxes. 

The proposal limits tax revenue increase to 3.5% without voter approval. Does this mean even if assessments go up more than 3.5% (I.E. 15% assessment increase this year) my actual dollar paid will only increase 3.5%? Also if it’s only increase in net total revenue collected by the local taxing district, that would seem to imply investment property can go up by more than 3.5%, as the 10% assessment increase limit on homesteads will force non-owner occupied real estate to pick up the slack.

 Any clarification would greatly be appreciated!

Thank you! The EIN info is a great tip and I think may alleviate some concerns of contractors I’ve asked about this.

I have a couple questions, but I guess this is as much a venting post too

Questions:

1) The W9 form has check boxes for C Corp and S Corp. Since we don't need to fill 1099-Misc for corporations do we not file it if one of these boxes is checked?

2) Single member LLC's don't have to have 1099-misc filed either, but multi member LLC's do. How do we figure this out? Just ask? My conversations with contractors don't generally include discussions about their business entity structure...

3) If I do accidentally file a 1099-misc on a single member LLC or corporation, does it penalize them/are being taxed double for income they only collected once?

The venting...

I feel this is a very poor way for the government to implement income for the gig/small business economy. The sharing economy is a rapidly growing part of the economy and this brings a unnecessary and a significant degree of complexity. Basically any small business now has to be a semi CPA. 

Another issue there are a lot of unscrupulous people in the small biz/underground economy world and if I were a contractor I would not feel comfortable giving out my social security number.

Don't get me wrong I understand why these rules were put in place and there is a huge underground economy that is not paying taxes. Just seems this method creates more trouble than it's worth....

-

I hope this is the right forum to post this in... but I'm hoping to get some advice from some people who really know their Texas title issues.

My father recently past away and had setup a family trust to avoid probate of his estate. The question is whether an unrecorded Quit Claim deed that transferred ownership from my dad and mom to the trust in 1992 is valid. Note, this is for a house that is jointly held by my mom and dad, it was their primary residence for 20 or so years but was later turned into a rental.

1. The Quit Claim deed was not recorded at county

2. Since 1992, when my parents signed the quit claim deed, they had the last names changed

3. Note, they both did go back and cross out their old last names on the and write in the new last names on the quit claim deed and then initialed. 

4. The final wrinkle is that in 2015 my parents refinanced the house and at that time, the title company required my parents quit claim the deed out of their old last names to their new last names.

A financial planner who is helping my mom, expressed concern the 1992 quit claim deed may not be valid since it was never recorded and they changed their names, as well as, having a more recent quit claim be recorded. This is important because if we cannot get title to the property into the Trust, the property will have to be probated, which can be much more expensive. Any advice or information is greatly appreciated.

Yea I didn't word that properly. In this case it was all cash with no realtor and i don't think the title company can disclose it. Greg H. You said it can be disclosed on the survey. Are you referring to a standard property survey for measuring a lot? This may be a good way for me to go because I'm going to have get a survey soon. Thanks

*Texas law prohibits...

I'd more like to find out if there are any major risks to disclosing the information. Note, Texas law pro hits the disclosure of private sale data, including to tax assessor. So the assessor doesn't know the purchase price and there is no public record of the purchase price.

I guess the second part of the question is what will help successfully win a tax appeal in Dallas county. I had an appeal on another property where even a recent appraisal showing a lower value didn't get it done.

Oh the property is in Texas and was a private sale. So it's not really public record.

Thanks Manolo. That's about where it came in. Interestingly, I was pricing tile at the showroom near me here in Chicago for a property in Dallas. When I went to purchase in Dallas, the retail price was almost double! I guess they price differently for different regions.