#real-estate
Real Estate
Real estate accounting, property tracking, and investment management
Self-Storage Facility Bookkeeping: A Practical Guide for Operators
How self-storage operators should structure a chart of accounts by unit type, reconcile SiteLink or storEDGE with the general ledger, treat move-in discounts as contra-revenue, handle auction proceeds, and report physical occupancy, economic occupancy, and NOI per square foot.
California Proposition 19 and the End of the Old Parent-Child Property Tax Bargain: A 2026 Guide for Heirs of California Real Estate
How California's Proposition 19 replaced Section 63.1 for parent-child transfers after February 16, 2021 — the family home and farm rules, the one-year occupancy requirement, the BOE-19-P and BOE-266 filings, the $1,044,586 value cap floor, and the step-up-basis trade-off that determines whether to gift during life or transfer at death.
Form 1120-H vs. Form 1120 for HOAs: The Section 528 Election, the 60/90 Tests, and Revenue Ruling 70-604, Explained
A practical guide for HOA boards, treasurers, and small-firm CPAs on the Section 528 election, the four Form 1120-H eligibility tests, the 30% flat rate trade-off versus Form 1120, and why every association should record an annual Revenue Ruling 70-604 vote.
Section 45L Before the Lights Go Out: How Builders and Developers Can Still Claim $2,500 to $5,000 Per Unit Before June 30, 2026
Section 45L pays builders and developers $500 to $5,000 per energy-efficient home, but the One Big Beautiful Bill Act ends the credit for homes acquired after June 30, 2026. A practical guide to ENERGY STAR versus Zero Energy Ready certification, prevailing wage rules on multifamily, the LIHTC basis carve-out, and the Form 8908 mechanics that decide whether the credit survives audit.
Section 514 UDFI Demystified: How Nonprofits, Foundations, and Self-Directed IRAs Get Taxed on Borrowed-Money Investments
How Section 514 of the Internal Revenue Code taxes leveraged investments held by 501(c)(3) organizations, private foundations, and self-directed IRAs — including the debt/basis percentage calculation, Form 990-T mechanics, the 12-month look-back on sale, and the Section 514(c)(9) real estate exception for schools and pension trusts.
The Self-Rental Rule: Why Your Building Rents Are Nonpassive but Your Losses Stay Passive
Reg. 1.469-2(f)(6) recharacterizes net rental income from property you rent to your own active business as nonpassive while leaving rental losses passive. This guide explains the asymmetry, walks through a dentist example with a $200,000 cost segregation deduction, and shows how the Reg. 1.469-4 grouping election can collapse the rule.
Repair or Capitalize? A Plain-English Guide to the Section 263(a)-3 Tangible Property Rules for Small Businesses
How the IRS Section 263(a)-3 tangible property regulations decide what small businesses can deduct now versus capitalize over decades — with the three safe harbors ($2,500/$5,000 de minimis, the small taxpayer building rule, and routine maintenance), the BRA test, and the unit-of-property trap that drives most mistakes.
CAM Reconciliation: How to Audit Your Landlord's Year-End True-Up Bill Before You Pay It
Industry recovery audits find 5%–15% of billed CAM charges are miscalculated or not owed. This guide explains how to read a landlord's year-end true-up statement, where pro rata share and gross-up errors hide, and how to dispute charges before the audit window closes.
Form 1099-S Demystified: How the Right Closing-Day Certification Can Spare You a Surprise Tax Bill on Your Home Sale
Form 1099-S reports the gross sale price of a home, not the net, which routinely triggers IRS CP2000 notices for sellers whose gain is fully excluded under Section 121. This guide explains the Rev. Proc. 2007-12 certification that lets qualifying principal-residence sales bypass the form, the $250,000/$500,000 thresholds, the nonqualified use trap added in 2008, and how to defensibly report when the 1099-S cannot be skipped.
The $40,000 SALT Cap: Should You Re-Itemize in 2026?
OBBBA raised the SALT deduction cap to $40,400 for 2026, but a 30-cent-per-dollar MAGI phase-down between $505,000 and $606,333 creates a roughly 45% effective marginal rate — the "SALT torpedo." Here is how to decide whether to re-itemize.
Section 1031 Boot Recognition: Cash Boot, Mortgage Boot, and Partial Deferral on Form 8824
A working guide to how the IRS computes boot in a Section 1031 exchange — cash boot, mortgage boot, the four netting rules, depreciation recapture at 25%, carryover basis, and Form 8824 reporting — with a worked example showing how $200K of fresh equity can wipe out $200K of mortgage boot.
Section 707 Disguised Sale Rules: When a Partnership Contribution Becomes a Taxable Sale
A disguised sale under Section 707(a)(2)(B) collapses a partnership contribution and a related cash distribution into a taxable sale. Transfers within two years are presumed a sale; the deemed-sale fraction equals consideration received divided by property FMV.