My Wealth Journey

I met with my CPA to go over my personal and corporate taxes and we were able to reduce my taxable income enough for me to receive a refund back from the IRS.  Here are some quick tips to reduce your taxes:

• Rental Properties (does not mean buy rental properties solely for tax purposes)  - You can deduct the depreciation of these properties if you are under 100k in taxable income or if you qualify as a real estate professional then there are no real limits. A $10,000 depreciation lost can mean a savings of as much as $4,000 depending on your tax bracket. Of course the amount depreciated will have to be recapture when/if you sell unless you do a 1031 transaction.
• Self Employed/Own Your Own Business - Travel expenses to Las Vegas or to San Francisco no longer are personal expenses and *may* become a business expense if you *conduct business activities* during your trip. Your *business* trips now only cost a smaller faction of what you actually paid out.
• Contribute to SEP IRA and 401K t to reduce your taxable income.
• Take advantage of the one time phone tax credit offer. Up to $60 in tax credit which is basically free money.
• Personal property taxes
• Give to charity
• Pay your kids for doing work
• Deduct mortgage interest off your personal residence

What a headline for the housing market. Over at CNN, they said a government report said that new home sales saw its biggest decline in 13 years. I’m not getting too concern with my rental properties just yet. A slowing market is actually a good thing right now. Someone has to slow down the number of homes being built. Areas such as Boise are seeing high MLS inventory along with the left over inventory in Phoenix.  I’m hoping for a slow down in new housing while the market corrects itself. If builders keep building at the fast pace, the drop will just be a bit more steeper and people will think a lot harder about buying any home.

CNN Money’s Post