All Forum Posts by: Raquel Baranow

Helen: I'm in Tucson and do all my tax lien foreclosures (pima & pinal counties) it's very easy, I checked out the Coconino county forms for foreclosing and you can cut & paste their forms into Microsoft Word and enter your own info. here's link: http://www.coconino.az.gov/DocumentCenter/View/53

What I usually do (and it's required by law) is to send the person on the tax bill a letter, you are smart to offer some $$$ (include a quitclaim deed & SASE) to save yourself the trouble and court-filing fees. I usually send the letter first class because often it will come back to you because the person is deceased or moved. If you don't hear from them in two weeks, I'd resend the letter Certified, return receipt, as required by law.

You also need to do a title search, which in some Counties is easier than others . . . Pinal County was very hard and I made several mistakes there, which required me to go back & quiet title. Pima County is easy. You also should notify the lienholders/mortgage (if any), if you don't foreclose them, you will have a cloud on your Treasurer's Deed title.

@Steven Hamilton II,

I don't understand what you mean by the following:

On Schedule A can an I deduct all my property taxes on my vacant lots? Can I deduct HOA dues I pay on some of the vacant lots? (These HOA dues is another nightmare story.) Can I deduct cost of filing foreclosure lawsuits?

@Steven Hamilton II: Part of the problem (I think) is that I don't have any income on Schedule C. Next week I have a few appointments with CPAs and one of 'em is an attorney too. I think it was him who told me to let a sleeping dog lie, i.e., don't let them consider me a "dealer" but he said something about Schedule A and I said, "I don't file a Schedule A," so I asked him to help me develop a tax strategy.

All my income is interest and capital gains (principle) on installment sales of land. Dealers are not allowed installment sales.

I'm also liquidating all my vacant lots at basically my cost. I put my first ad on Ebay and have had some offers on some of my really junky lots.

Another person on the phone said, "the good thing is they can only go after the last three years." (They sent me notice they're auditing 2011 taxes too. So I hope they let me amend those years and avoid the $1000 penalty then I'll only owe about $10,000 for both years and maybe $6000 for 2012.

i know everything about tax liens in arizona. i started out with $4000 and ended up with 120-vacant lots that I can't sell. I have sold many lots and made good profit but the current economy hit me hard. Used to be I could sell one-acre lots I got for $1000 from tax liens for $23k but not anymore . . . some people can;t even get $5000. My mistake was holding the lots as investment.

My business is buying vacant land, cheap through tax lien foreclosure and then selling it. I own 125-vacant lots. Business is BAD, I haven't made a profit in years. I was holding some of the lots for investment but then economy went bad and taxes eat too much profit.

My biggest expense is paying the property taxes on the vacant lots. I deduct the taxes (average $25k/year) on Schedule C. IRS is "disallowing" ALL my Schedule C expenses, including use of car, home office, postage, HOA dues on vacant lots . . . I have receipts for everything.

On Form 886-A they said since my business did not make a profit in three out of five years per IRC 183(d) it is "presumed" that "an activity is not a business." They say I owe $6656.52 for 2010 and they just sent me another audit letter for 2011 . . . I'm thinking I should amend my 1040 but I don't know what strategy to take.

I made about $35k in interest from installment sales in 2010 and $18k in principle payments on the sales.

I never file Schedule A.

What should I do???