Real Estate Agent Lays the SmackDown on the IRS!
Posted in The Real Estate Agent of the Future By TReXGlobal, Thursday, May 21, 2009.Many of you have heard about how the IRS has been targeting Real Estate Agents, and challenging the status of a "real estate professional" for an Agent.
To give you a brief background without getting into the details - a "Real Estate Professional" is someone who "materially participates" in their real estate activity. As a result, they are able to deduct real estate losses from other income that is not related to real estate.
The IRS had been challenging the "real estate professional" status for agents - stating that Brokers qualify, but Agents do not. And they were winning...
The great news is that a Real Estate Agent just won in tax court! Read the case for yourself!
The IRS tried to argue that the taxpayer needs to be a “Broker” not a just an “Agent” to meet the 750 hour per year material participation test. The Tax Court said: “The Court concludes that Congress is presumed to have defined the term “brokerage” in its common or ordinary meaning. The Court also stated that for purposes of section 469, the “business” of a real estate broker includes, but is not limited to: (1) Selling, exchanging, purchasing, renting, or leasing real property” and therefore, an “agent” is the same as a “broker” for purposes of this test.”
Yippy!
Congratulations, agents can be "real estate professionals" again! Speaking of which, what kind of real estate marketing tools are you using to grow your business?
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Submitted by Glen Jaffee on May 22, 2009 - 9:35am.
Real Estate Agents touch 100% of the clients and generate 100% of the revenue for a broker's organization. Agents put their livelihoods on the line every single day without any guarantee of compensation unless they can complete a transaction. I would suggest this is a very powerful argument when it comes to expenses invested and incurred on a daily basis to search for the next opportunity. Glen Jaffee, VP AlignMark