Unlocking Tax Deductions:
A Landlord's Guide

Transcript

Jonathan Forisha:

I’m Jonathan, this is Krista, and we’re here to help you be a better landlord. Alright Krista, well it is everyone’s favorite time of year, tax season. So let’s talk about the fun part of taxes, which is deductions. What is a deduction?

Krista Reuther:

Sure, a deduction is a way to lower your taxable income based on things that you’ve already purchased or paid for throughout the year. Excellent.

Jonathan Forisha:

Okay, can you give a few examples? Absolutely.

Krista Reuther:

So, interest that you’re paying on your student loans, if that’s applicable, that is tax deductible as our child taxes. If you’re a business owner, anything that you’re paying for in regards to your business like advertising costs, mileage if you’re traveling property to property, there’s a whole host of different things that you should be looking out for.

Jonathan Forisha:

Yeah, and as landlords know there’s a lot of expenses that go into running their business, so all of those things are potentially tax deductions. Absolutely. Okay, they just need to prove it.

Krista Reuther:

Yes, keep your receipts, document everything. So what I would recommend is leveraging TurboTenance mobile app where you can take pictures of the receipt from whatever you’re purchasing. Make sure that you have information like when the purchase was made, typically what it was made for. So for example, if I take a picture of our Chili’s receipt, I would say business meal with Jonathan on 214 and have all of that on the actual receipt. Snap the picture with the amount that you spent and make sure that you are keeping that so you can send everything over to your CPA. Or if you’re really going hard on that DIY course, you’re doing it yourself, but you’re going to need all that documentation to back it up.

Jonathan Forisha:

Yeah, and the documentation that can get a little hairy because a year, it turns out, has quite a few days in it. Don’t know how many exactly. It’s a whole song about that. And where should people keep these receipts? You mentioned the mobile app. Where does that actually go?

Krista Reuther:

So if you are using the mobile app, it will go directly into your TurboTenance account. There is a document section. It’s really nice, easy to use. You can store everything there. If you are someone who likes to really cover their bases, I would say make sure that you have all of these receipts saved both digitally and physically, maybe in a file folder. That way, again, if something were to go wrong, the internet breaks, why 2K was real, but it was just delayed by many years. You have an option to go back to your receipts and claim all of those deductions. Okay.

Jonathan Forisha:

Are there other tools people could use specific to rental properties? Absolutely.

Krista Reuther:

We have a really nice integrated software called REI Hub that is built for landlords and anyone who files a Schedule E form. That’s where you report rental property income. So what I love about this program is that it makes it really simple to just in one click download your tax packet, download any kind of reports you need so that you can either use it yourself or pass it along to your CPA and become their favorite client. It makes it super simple to get organized, stay organized and maximize your deductions, which I think we could all get on board with. Yeah.

Jonathan Forisha:

That sounds like a really easy way to organize things.

Krista Reuther:

Yeah. And it’s really cost effective too. So currently, we are running a deal where you can get started for as low as $7.50 per month. And the nice thing about buying into a service like that, it is also tax deductible. So keep your receipts and you can actually use that at the end of the year, the end of the tax year as well. Awesome.

Jonathan Forisha:

Where can people learn more about this? Sure.

Krista Reuther:

So you can head on over to your TurboTenant Account. Log in to your portal and go over to the Accounting tab. If you want to use our free accounting system in terms of organizing your expenses, things like that, I welcome you to do that. The nice thing with REI Hub is that if you use that service, it will pull all your information from your TurboTenant Account into your REI Hub system where you can then download reports with a click.

You can also find information about that integrated software there. Start poking around, ask questions. If anything pops up, reach out to our wonderful support team. You can chat with them directly through that portal and ask anything that you need to. Awesome.

Jonathan Forisha:

This sounds much better than an old filing cabinet crammed with weird handwritten receipts.

Krista Reuther:

Yes, it’s 3,000% is it really brings your business to a new height of professionalism. And again, it helps you to really maximize your deductions because you’re not leaving anything on the table. You’re organized without having to think about it, which is frankly my favorite way to be organized.

Jonathan Forisha:

Absolutely. Alright, Kristen. Well, thanks for talking deductions with us. Good luck to all of you during tax season. If you have any other tips, leave them in the comments below. Don’t forget to subscribe.