All you would need to say really is that you materially participated in the business during the tax year and just be prepared in the case of an audit/IRS notice.

Education and research hours, "managing the property manager" all have failed under audit historically.There is a lot more nuance here I could go into, but I would strongly advice you talk with a real estate-focused tax professional.

Education and research hours, "managing the property manager" all have failed under audit historically. 

Do they provide audit protection?

If you get audited good luckNot a cpa or tax professional just telling you what has been relayed to me by several CPA’s

There's no grey area here and under an audit, this would easily be reversed.Originally posted by @Eamonn McElroy:@Michael Blank"I know a doctor who's been working with them; he's a passive investor with HUGE active income; Wealthabilty helped him figure out how to leverage the real estate depreciation to reduce his taxes."

I have seen to many people try to do taxes themselves and then we have to go back 3 years and amend the returns because the taxpayer either is exposing themselves to audit risk or missed out on a great deduction that would have resulted in a larger refund 

It falls under the automatic consent procedures, so it does not need approval - it could still be audited though 3.

- I realize that this maneuver will likely increase the risk of audit....curious to get a sense of how much more risk of audit I will face and does the IRS typically just audit the one year or would they dig into previous years as well?

Unfortunately, their deduction was disallowed following an IRS audit and a subsequent visit to Tax Court.