BonzaiDuck
Lifer
- Jun 30, 2004
- 15,785
- 1,500
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Actually, this issue was firsthand for me, because I own a rental property. No, you don't have to incorporate; yes the local property tax -- probably a state or county tax -- is a deduction on Schedule E, Rental and Royalty Income. If they limited SALT deductions under Schedule A, they also boosted the standard deduction as high as $13,000 for a senior citizen, and only slightly less than that for individuals of the younger variety.So, if SALT is eliminated for individuals & only business can use it then the tipping point between buying & renting would shift towards renting. Forever, of course.
Further, the 2017 tax law provides a 20% across the board deduction on Schedule E income, and any single rental owner qualifies as "renting for profit". This year, I took a loss of a few hundred dollars because I had to make repairs to the bathroom, together with some De Minimus or Routine Maintenance Safe Harbor deductions which can be written off as repairs rather than capitalized. So I didn't get any 20% Schedule E deduction on net gain.
Who is subsidizing whom is a matter of property tax rates, state tax rates, and for the broader deduction for mortgage interest which is now limited -- whose mortgage and property is financed to the extent of a higher level of annual interest expense.
I don't see much more than chump change in "improvement" on my taxes. They adjusted the withholding during the year, but I plan my estimated tax payments based on the prior year's income, so that I approach as much as possible zero owed and zero refunded after filing the April return. Despite the withholding change, I came very close this year to zero owed in April.
The continued deductions for Schedule E with the 20% additional deduction to net gains is tell-tale. The president's business might benefit very much from it. If you don't own a rental property, then S-O-L.