Top Ten Tax Deductions for Landlords

Top Ten Tax Deductions for Landlords
No landlord would pay more than necessary for utilities or
other operating expenses for a rental property. But, every
year, millions of landlords pay more taxes on their rental
income than they have to. Why? Because they fail to take
advantage of all the tax deductions available for owners of
rental property.

Rental real estate provides more tax benefits than almost
any other investment. Often, these benefits make the
difference between losing money and earning a profit on a
rental property. But tax deductions are worthless if you
don't take advantage of them. Here are the top ten tax
deductions for owners of small residential rental property.

1. Interest. Interest is often a landlord's single biggest
deductible expense. Common examples of interest that
landlords can deduct include mortgage interest payments on
loans used to acquire or improve rental property and
interest on credit cards for goods or services used in a
rental activity.

2. Depreciation. The actual cost of a house, apartment
building, or other rental property is not fully deductible
in the year in which you pay for it. Instead, landlords get
back the cost of real estate through depreciation. This
involves deducting a portion of the cost of the property
over several years. Residential rental property must be
depreciated over 27.5 years. However, if done properly,
the depreciable life can be shorted to 15 or 5 years.

3. Repairs. The cost of repairs to rental property
(provided the repairs are ordinary, necessary, and
reasonable in amount) are fully deductible in the year in
which they are incurred. Good examples of deductible
repairs include repainting, fixing gutters or floors,
fixing leaks, plastering, and replacing broken windows.

4. Local travel. Landlords are entitled to a tax deduction
whenever they drive anywhere for their rental activity. For
example, when you drive to your rental building to deal
with a tenant complaint or go to the hardware store to
purchase a part for a repair, you can deduct your travel
expenses. If you drive a car, SUV, van, pickup, or panel
truck for your rental activity (as most landlords do), you
have two options for deducting your vehicle expenses: You
can use the standard mileage rate or you can deduct your
actual expenses (gasoline, upkeep, repairs).

5. Long Distance Travel. If you travel overnight for your
rental activity, you can deduct your airfare, hotel bills,
meals, and other expenses. If you plan your trip carefully,
you can even mix landlord business with pleasure and still
take a deduction. However, IRS auditors closely scrutinize
deductions for overnight travel -- and many taxpayers get
caught claiming these deductions without proper records to
back them up. To stay within the law (and avoid unwanted
attention from the IRS), you need to properly document your
long distance travel expenses.

6. Home Office. Provided they meet certain minimal
requirements, landlords may deduct their home office
expenses from their taxable income. This deduction applies
not only to space devoted to office work, but also to a
workshop or any other home workspace you use for your
rental business. This is true whether you own your home or
apartment or are a renter.

7. Employees and Independent Contractors. Whenever you hire
anyone to perform services for your rental activity, you
can deduct their wages as a rental business expense. This
is so whether the worker is an employee (for example, a
resident manager) or an independent contractor (for
example, a repair person).

8. Casualty and Theft Losses. If your rental property is
damaged or destroyed from a sudden event like a fire or
flood, you may be able to obtain a tax deduction for all or
part of your loss. These types of losses are called
"casualty" losses. You usually won't be able to deduct the
entire cost of property damaged or destroyed by a casualty.
How much you may deduct depends on how much of your
property was destroyed and whether the loss was covered by
insurance.

9. Insurance. You can deduct the premiums you pay for
almost any insurance for your rental activity. This
includes fire, theft, and flood insurance for rental
property, as well as landlord liability insurance. And if
you have employees, you can deduct the cost of their health
and workers' compensation insurance.

10. Legal and Professional Services. Finally, you can
deduct fees that you pay to attorneys, accountants,
property management companies, real estate investment
advisors, and other professionals. You can deduct these
fees as operating expenses as long as the fees are paid for
work related to your rental activity.

Warmest Regards,

Tom

----------------------------------------------------
Tom Wheelwright is not only the founder and CEO of
Provision, but he is the creative force behind Provision
Wealth Strategists. In addition to his management
responsibilities, Tom likes to coach clients on wealth,
business, and tax strategies. Along with his frequent
seminars on these strategies, Tom is an adjunct professor
in the Masters of Tax program at Arizona State University.
For more information, visit
http://www.provisionwealth.com.com .

How to Get Started Investing in the Stock Market

How to Get Started Investing in the Stock Market
What steps do you take when you want to start investing
into the stock market? With so much information available
and so many investment options to choose from, what do you
do first?

Step 1:

You need to evaluate your current income and expenses to
determine the available discretionary income you have at
the end of the month. Discretionary income is income that
is not allocated towards household expenditures or to any
other scheduled payment. (i.e. loans, credit cards)

Step 2:

Now that you have decided what amount you can invest on a
monthly basis, you need to consider what goals you are
going to invest towards. Most people don't just invest for
the sake of investing; they have a list of targeted goals
that they are trying to achieve. Do you want to build up a
cash reserve? Do you want a new car? Do you want to buy a
home? Do you want to buy a 2nd home or a piece of
investment real estate? Do you want to save for your
children's education? Do you want to save towards becoming
financially independent? When working towards achieving a
goal, the goal needs to be defined as with a time frame and
an amount.

For example: Buying a new car is not a goal. Buying an
$27,000 new car by June 2009, is a goal as it includes a
time frame and an amount.

Step 3:

The time frames for each of your goals will determine the
type of investment choices that you should consider. Short
term goals should be invested in more conservative
investments, while those with 10+ years can afford to be
invested into more aggressive investments. Choose your
desired investment allocation based on these targets and
time frames.

Step 4:

Set up an automated payment plan from your paycheck or
directly from your bank account on a monthly basis. This
system will allow you to pay yourself first and to begin
moving in the right direction for your overall goal of
wealth building. Talk to your present employer, an
investment institution and your current bank about
available investment options and automatic savings plans
that you can enroll in. You often can start an automated
payment plan for as little as $100 per month. While this
will not be enough to secure your retirement, it is an
affordable option to start building your wealth.

Step 5:

Begin investing and set up regular monitoring points every
3 months so that you can check the progress of your
investments, and to make any necessary portfolio changes.
Add more to your monthly payment plan whenever possible and
if you receive any bonuses, consider directing all, or a
portion of those dollars towards building your personal
wealth.

To start investing in the stock market is a simple process.
Make the decision to start, evaluate your goals and
options, and take action.

----------------------------------------------------
Learn the investment strategies used by many wealthy people
to ensure their own futures, visit our website and request
your free DVD of a 3 hour seminars with Self Made
Millionaire Jamie McIntyre, visit
http://www.stockmarketaustralia.com.au

Personal Pension Plans - Does The 'Best' One Exist?

Personal Pension Plans - Does The 'Best' One Exist?
Like many of our clients, we are constantly updating our
Continuous Professional Development (CPD).

One of the many pieces of reading material we were looking
through had the title of 'Advisers Have Vital Role As
Persuaders'.

This was based on the results of a survey which asked both
individual investors and advisers 5 questions about
retirement planning success. Fidelity, an investment group,
asked these 2 groups to rank 1-5 the factors below:

The survey aimed to identify how well educated a typical
investor is, and to stress how important an advisers job
was to ensure that the message they want to get across does
indeed communicate itself to individuals. The context for
this was that there is a lot of talk about the coming
'pension crisis', and how vital it is that investors get
the right advice.

Priority / Advisers / Individuals

Amount saved over a lifetime / 1 / 2

Date at which saving started / 2 / 4

Getting the right asset allocation / 3 / 5

Picking the right funds / 4 / 3

Finding the best pension plan / 5 / 1

If we simply concentrate on the first and last factors, we
see that the priorities here are reversed. Whilst
individuals did understand that the amount saved over a
lifetime, identified by advisers as the most important
factor, was indeed important, they still rated 'finding the
best pension plan' as number 1.

Now, we have written many articles on this subject, and are
certain that no regular reader will have made this mistake!
However, this survey has once again shown that the idea
that there is a 'best pension plan' out there is still
prevalent with individual investors.

We do not have space to reiterate our investment process
here, but the long and short of it is that, whilst the
pension wrapper is important (as it is tax efficient), the
investments within the pension are what really matters.

When we first looked at the results of this survey, it
reminded us of a recent experience we had when a new client
contacted us after finding our website via Google. He
explained that he was concerned about the advice he had
been given by his Independant Financial Adviser (IFA), and
could we give our view on his situation. When Graeme met
him, it became clear that with very little evidence as to
why, the IFA was advising the client to invest over
£2,600 per month into a Personal Pension. When asked
why, the IFA said that it would allow the client to retire
earlier, and that this was the 'best' pension that he could
recommend.

When Graeme asked:

- Were your goals in life discussed properly?

- what risk questionnaire/assessment was used?

- what was the result of the cash flow forecast?

- Have the NHS Pension and State pensions been taken into
account?

- where is the expenditure template showing what you need
at 60?

- Has the sale of the practice been taken into account?

- Have any possible inheritances been factored in?

- Have the existing investments been built in?

The answers were that none of these had been discussed in
detail or at all!

Many things concern us here, including the probability
(based on many clients' case work) that if such planning
were implimented, the client would possibly have 'too much'
for their needs age 60 plus, and in a wrapper which
restricts what you can do with it (75% of the proceeds have
to be used to provide an income - 25% is available as tax
free cash as a lump sum).

This can of course also be at the cost of the client's life
now - what's wrong with enjoying life and spending money
now if more money does not need to be invested?

The key word is measurement - or the lack of it in this
case.

To cap it all, the dentist had a copy of the quotation that
had been left with him for the Personal Pension. For the
few hours work that had been carried out for the client,
the last page showed a very interesting remuneration figure
for the IFA. This money would be taken from the clients
pension account in the first year.

£19,432 to be paid as a lump sum when the client
signed up!

The Financial Tips Bottom Line

Be aware that there is no 'best pension', and if anyone
says there is it's probably time to take a step back and
ask the adviser what form of measurement they have used to
arrive at the decision they have.

Action Point

If your adviser has not taken into account the above
factors as a minimum to your overall retirement planning,
then we recommend you do so now. Retirement planning is not
just about pensions - building in all factors and having a
life now is quite important!

Also, even if you intend to simply buy policies instead of
comprehensive planning, be aware of advisers who charge
large amounts of commission and talk about the 'best
pension'.

----------------------------------------------------
Ray Prince is an Independent Financial Planner with
Rutherford Wilkinson plc, and helps UK Resident Doctors and
Dentists get the best deals on mortgages, protection and
investments, as well as helping them achieve their
financial objectives. Just visit
http://www.medicaldentalfs.com to get your free retirement
planning guide. Rutherford Wilkinson plc is authorised and
regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

Sale and Leaseback Financing

Sale and Leaseback Financing
Sale and Leaseback Financing - What is it?

A sale and leaseback financing transaction is where the
company sells it free and clear assets and leases it back
simultaneously. These transactions can range anywhere from
$50,000 to $6,000,000. This article will encompass the
following types of industries and discuss its particulars:

Construction equipment,manufacturing equipment, production
equipment, yellow iron, dump trucks and trailers,
agricultural and farm equipment, and other heavy equipment

Many seasoned lenders have come up with many industries
standards to make the available credit pretty much
standard. The first area that the lender will consider is
the the value of the free and clear asset that is going to
be sold and leased back. Each lender's formula is somewhat
similar but they usually value the acquired asset somewhere
between 50%-70% of the auction value. This auction value
will come from trade publications and other standards in
the industry for these particular assets.

Once the auction value of the asset and/or assets is
established, the lender will look at the applicant's
credit. Some lenders will consider the credit irrelevant as
they focus on the auction value of the asset. Other lenders
will obtain the credit and grade them according. These
lenders will come up with a score and give the applicants
different lending rates depending upon their credit and the
asset involved.

The lender will lease these bought assets anywhere from
24-85 months back to the applicant. Additionally, the
lender will offer residual buyout clauses anywhere from 25%
residual to fair market value of the asset at the end of
the lease. This will keep the applicant's monthly payment
as low as possible.

Sale and Leaseback Financing - What is Required? Usually,
what is required from the applicant is:

Personal financial statements, a lease application, a
summary telling about the deal and its particulars, and a
detailed equipment list, identifying the assets to sold and
leased back Obviously - bills of sale and title work
will have to be performed by the lender.

The proceeds of the these funds can be used for working
capital, debt re-structuring, equipment acquisitions, and
paying off judgements and other liens.

Sale and Leaseback Financing - Unique Features Some other
unique features of the sales and leaseback program is that
usually these transactions are:

Non-bankable type transactions, home ownership isn't
required, and poor credit isn't an issue!

In conclusion, we suggest you shop around for the best deal
for yourself and understand all the particulars of the
transaction. Hopefully, this article about "Sales and
Leaseback" financing assists you with your decision making.

----------------------------------------------------
J.M Luna has over thirty years experience in the financial
field. This includes accounting and taxes, leasing, hard
asset money and working capital loans, and commercial
financing. U.S Corporate Capital Leasing Group can assist
the startup and seasoned business in all different types of
industries.
http://www.cclgequipmentleasing.com/Sale_Leaseback.htm

Cash For Houses - What Do You Need To Do To Start Selling Houses For Cash?

Cash For Houses - What Do You Need To Do To Start Selling Houses For Cash?
Do you want to get cash for houses? There are a lot of
people that do but they do not realize that it can be hard
to get cash for houses if you don't know what to do to make
it happen. You can not just put a house on the market and
expect it to sell as is for cash.

Here are the things that you will need to do to sell houses
for cash.

One: You have to take time to evaluate your home or
properties. You are looking to see what repairs or esthetic
fixes need to be done. Then make the repairs and make it
look nice.

Two: It is important that you clean up your home on the
inside and the outside. You don't want people to come in to
look at your home only to find that it is a mess. Cleaning
can be a lot of work, but a necessary chore if you want it
to sell fast.

Three: When you set the price of your home you want to make
sure that it is reasonably priced. You won't sell houses
for cash if you try to out price yourself so you can make a
big profit from the sale. Do some research to find out what
the houses in your neighborhood are selling for.

Four: When you want to get cash for houses you need to make
sure that you have placed a "for sale by owner" sign in
your front yard, place ads in newspapers and even list your
home on the internet.

The more places you can list your home the easier it will
sell. It is just like marketing any product, to get buyers
they need to be able to find you.

Five: You need to be willing to negotiate. You don't want
to be so set on one price that you won't haggle just a
little if it means you can get cash for houses. You need to
remember that there is always room for negotiation.

Selling houses for cash can be very profitable if you use
these real estate tricks. Anyone can get cash for houses if
you are willing to do what it takes. It will be harder to
sell a house if you want cash for it but it can be done if
you take the time to do what you need to in order to help
your home sell.

----------------------------------------------------
James Redmond invites you to visit his best home offer
website if you must sell your house fast. If you are a
private party who must sell your home because of divorce,
bankruptcy or other issues he can help. He specializes in
private party must sell home help including selling high
end homes. Please click here now to learn more:===>
http://www.thebesthomeoffer.com/

Tax Law Changes That Impact Homeowners

Tax Law Changes That Impact Homeowners
With foreclosure rates at an all time high, new tax law was
passed at the end of 2007 to help homeowners avoid
unmanageable income tax debt due to income created from a
foreclosure. The new law also covers mortgage
renegotiations and other real estate related benefits.

How is income created from a foreclosure? Here is a common
scenario:

A lender forecloses on a property and then sells the
property for less than the outstanding mortgage balance.
There still remains an unpaid mortgage debt, which is the
difference between the outstanding mortgage balance and the
sales price. What usually happens next is the lender
forgives the unpaid mortgage balance.

Before the new tax law, the unpaid mortgage balance was
considered taxable income leaving the homeowner with an
income tax bill.

After the new tax law, the unpaid mortgage balance is
excluded from taxable income up to $2 million.

What is a mortgage renegotiation? Before starting the
foreclosure process, a lender typically performs a
cost-benefit analysis of foreclosing on a property. The
result may be that the foreclosure is not in the lender's
best interest, which isn't uncommon since the typical
foreclosure nets the lender only about 60 cents on the
dollar. In this case, the lender may renegotiate the terms
of the mortgage to get to a lower monthly payment for the
homeowner.

For example, one renegotiation workout plan organized by
the Bush Administration and a group of lenders would bypass
adjustable rate resets for up to five years. This type of
renegotiation would typically result in forgiveness of
indebtedness income creating taxable income to the
homeowner if it were not for the new law.

What type of debt qualifies for the exclusion? The new law
applies to debt incurred for the acquisition, construction
or substantial improvement of the principal residence of
the taxpayer and is secured by the residence. It also
includes refinancing of such debt to the extent that
refinancing does not exceed the amount of the original
indebtedness.

What do homeowners need to watch out for? Homeowners who
did "cash-out" refinancing and did not put the funds back
into the home but, instead, used the funds to pay off
credit card debt, tuition, medical expenses, or other
expenditures. The "cash-out" amount is indebtedness income
and fully taxable unless other exceptions are met.

What qualifies as a principal residence? A principal
residence is the one in which the taxpayer lives most of
the time. However, the determination of a taxpayer's
principal residence is based on "all the facts and
circumstances." The definition is the same as the home
sale gain exclusion.

This rules out vacation homes, second residences and rental
properties, even if the properties were purchased with
equity from the taxpayer's principal residence.

When is the new law effective? This special relief is
available for three years beginning January 1, 2007, and
ending December 31, 2009.

What other real estate related benefits are included in the
new tax law?

Mortgage Insurance Deduction. The new law extends the
mortgage insurance deduction to amounts paid or accrued
after December 31, 2007, but only with respect to contracts
entered into after December 31, 2006, or prior to January
1, 2011.

Survivor's Home Sale Exclusion The new law extends the time
in which a surviving spouse may use the married filing
joint $500,000 home sale gain exclusion before being
treated as a single individual entitled only to a $250,000
exclusion. Before the new tax law, a surviving spouse was
could use the $500,000 exclusion only to the extent he or
she could file a joint return with the deceased spouse's
estate, which is only in the tax year the spouse dies.

Starting January 1, 2008, the surviving spouse can use the
$500,000 gain exclusion up to two years following the date
of death of the spouse.

What's the catch? As you have read, this new tax law
contains major tax reductions, which are offset by several
tax increases included in the new law. These increases
include:

An increase in the failure to file penalty for partnerships
from $50 to $85 per partner per month, up to 12 months

A new failure to file penalty for S corporations of $85 per
S shareholder per month, up to 12 months

Increases in corporate estimated tax payments for
corporations with $1 billion-plus assets, by 1.5 percent to
117.25 percent for payments due in July, August and
September 2012.

----------------------------------------------------
Tom Wheelwright is not only the founder and CEO of
Provision, but he is the creative force behind Provision
Wealth Strategists. In addition to his management
responsibilities, Tom likes to coach clients on wealth,
business, and tax strategies. Along with his frequent
seminars on these strategies, Tom is an adjunct professor
in the Masters of Tax program at Arizona State University.
For more information, visit
http://www.provisionwealth.com.com .

Common Credit Mistakes - That affect your Credit Score

Common Credit Mistakes - That affect your Credit Score
Your Credit Score could be affected by little mistakes made
on your part. These mistakes are made all the time, and
most don't realize the impact on your credit report and
credit score. We have seen these common problems quite
often, even though you are providing help for a family
member or friend.

Co-signing for loans:

One of the most common credit mistake is co-signing on a
loan for friends and family members that don't pay there
bills. Yes you thought you were helping someone out, but in
return hurt your personal credit. Over the years we have
seen more and more people helping out other people with
loans, and there credit report is littered with late
payments. The result is sorry we cannot help you with the
loan you are applying for because your credit score is too
low. Late payments will drop your credit score 100 points.
So if you had a 700 FICO score, now you have a 600 FICO
score. So don't co-sign for someone else. They need to
learn how to establish credit on there own.

Closing Credit Card Accounts:

Fair Isaac Corporation does not recommend closing out
credit cards, especially if the card is in good standing.
Once you close out a card that is a good revolving line of
credit, you just dropped your scores. This credit was
reporting in good standing with a credit limit, the credit
limit is a part of your credit score. So if you close it,
you score will drop due to good credit being removed.

No Credit Cards will hurt your Score:

If you thought it was ok to not have any credit cards, you
are wrong. Fair Isaac recommends having credit cards, but
using them responsibly.

High Credit Card Balances:

High credit card balances will lower your credit score as
well. According to Fair Isaac your balance should not be
more than 30% of credit limit. The lower your balance is
the higher your credit score will be. This is the quickest
way to increase your credit scores.

Don't give up:

Maybe you have made some mistakes, and now you are on the
road to recovery. Remember your credit is just a snapshot
of your credit during a particular time. You can always
improve your credit by paying down your balances, and being
on-time with your payments to creditors.

----------------------------------------------------
About the Author: Mike Clover is the owner of
http://www.my720fico.com . My720fico.com is one of the most
unique on-line resources for free credit score reports,
Internet identity theft software, secure credit cards, and
a BlOG with a wealth of personal credit information. The
information within this website is written by professionals
that know about credit, and what determines ones credit
worthiness.

Avoid Online Business Loan and Business Cash Advance Applications

Avoid Online Business Loan and Business Cash Advance Applications
Under most normal circumstances, commercial borrowers
should avoid online applications for business loans and
business cash advances. Commercial borrowers should avoid
submittals of any application forms until after
individualized lender discussions. This working capital
management article will provide an overview of how and why
to avoid the usual online application trap involving
commercial loans.

Business owners and commercial borrowers will consistently
find an almost limitless supply of internet sites for
commercial loans. Most business cash advance websites will
include some version of an online application. Here is a
four-step process for avoiding the unwise use of
applications for business loans.

The first step is to avoid the initial temptation to submit
a commercial loan application online. It does appear to be
convenient for a business borrower to apply for business
financing online. Perhaps some business owners are
attracted to the anonymous nature of the online business
finance application because they have been previously
annoyed by sales tactics and evasive answers in loan
discussions.

Many commercial lenders have contributed to the
pervasiveness of online business finance applications in
large part because they are fearful of losing some
competitive advantage by not having this capability.
However in attempting to match their competition, business
lenders and brokers are sacrificing the best interests of
their commercial borrower clients by facilitating the
online application approach for commercial loans.

The second step is to understand why it is essential to
avoid an online business finance application. Submitting a
commercial loan application via a website is equivalent to
blindly sending a resume to a company seeking employment
without any prior discussions or research. What makes an
online business loan application even more risky and
inadvisable than the anonymous resume example is the usual
inclusion of tax identification numbers and other sensitive
business data on a commercial funding application document.

There are several key problems associated with an online
business finance application. First, there are always
potential security breaches during transmission (as well as
before and after transmission). Second, there is a
significant loss of control by the commercial borrower in
the use of their social security number or business tax
identification number for checking credit (since many
online business finance application processes will result
in checking credit before any personal conversations
occur). Third, most commercial loans are simply too complex
to initiate by an oversimplified automated process. If we
can use a brief sports analogy, starting the commercial
mortgage loan or business cash advance process with an
automated application is tantamount to the kickoff of a
football game occurring without any pre-game warmups,
coaching pep talks or the traditional coin toss. The easy
and convenient approach simply omits too many preliminary
and essential steps.

The third step is to replace an online business loan
application process with a better approach. The simple and
pragmatic solution to the business finance application
dilemma is to insist on preliminary personal discussions
with an experienced advisor before submitting any form of
commercial finance application. A suitable and ethical
commercial lender will not ask a commercial borrower to
submit any application until the borrower has completed a
thorough discussion with the lender confirming that
business financing is appropriate for a specific business
situation.

Of course it should be anticipated that some commercial
lenders and brokers will attempt to minimize the potential
problems associated with an online business finance
application. Instead of dealing with such a business
financing advisor, commercial borrowers should seek out one
of the relatively few commercial loan advisors willing to
emphasize a conversational and individualized approach to
commercial funding for a business owner.

The fourth step is to explore additional resources that
will facilitate a better understanding of complex business
finance issues. The Commercial Real Estate Loans Guide and
The Working Capital Management Guide are two examples of
business financing resources that will provide strategies
for many problematic circumstances dealing with small
business cash management.

----------------------------------------------------
Steve Bush is a small business loans expert - learn how to
avoid mistakes with commercial loans and find out about
business cash management strategies at AEX Commercial
Financing Group =>
http://aexcommercialfinancing.com