Articles
- 1031 Boot: What It Is, How It Is Taxed, and How to Structure It
1031 boot is anything you get in an exchange that is not like-kind real estate. What counts, how it is taxed layer by layer, and how to take it over time.
- Depreciation Recapture: Tax Rates, Rules and How to Calculate It
Depreciation recapture explained: the three layers of gain, the 25% cap on real estate, ordinary rates on Section 1245 property, and a fully worked example.
- Real Estate Professional Status: The 750-Hour Test, Explained
Real estate professional status takes 750+ hours and over half your work time, plus material participation. What counts, who fails in Tax Court, and why.
- Suspended Passive Losses When You Sell a Rental Property
What happens to suspended passive losses when you sell a rental: what a sale releases, when, and why a 1031, a related buyer, a gift or death change the answer.
- 1031 Exchange Depreciation Recapture and the 1245(b)(4) Trap
A full 1031 defers depreciation recapture, boot pulls it out first, and cost-segregated property can trigger recapture with zero boot. How each works.
- Form 8824 Instructions: Reporting a 1031 Exchange Step by Step
Form 8824 line by line: exchange dates, related parties, boot, recapture and new basis, with a worked 1031 example and the California FTB 3840 rule.
- Installment Sale for 1031 Boot: Section 453(f)(6) Carve-Outs
How 1031 boot can be taken on the installment method under Section 453(f)(6), how the carve-out works at closing, and why a failed exchange cannot be rescued.
- Form 4797 Instructions: Reporting a Rental or Business Sale
How Form 4797 works for selling rental or business property: Parts I to IV, recapture, the land split and a line-by-line rental sale example you can follow.
- Unrecaptured Section 1250 Gain: The Maximum 25% Rate Explained
Unrecaptured Section 1250 gain is the straight-line depreciation in your real estate gain, taxed at up to 25%. How to compute it, report it and plan around it.
- Material Participation for Rentals: The 7 Tests Explained
The seven material participation tests in plain English, why most landlords with a manager fail them, and when the aggregation election helps or hurts at sale.
- Bonus Depreciation Recapture: Cost Segregation Before You Sell
Cost segregation and 100% bonus create big rental losses now and ordinary-rate recapture the year you sell. How to use both sides of that trade before a sale.
- Capital Gains on Rental Property: Every Tax You Owe on a Sale
Selling a rental triggers five layers of tax: recapture, the 25% layer, capital gain, the 3.8% NIIT and state tax. A worked example plus the offset most miss.
- Form 8582 Explained: Where Your Stuck Rental Losses Live
Form 8582 limits passive losses and tracks the carryover. A plain-English walk-through of each part, the $25,000 allowance, and what happens the year you sell.
- Net Investment Income Tax on Rental Property Sales: 3.8% Rule
When the 3.8% net investment income tax applies to selling a rental, how to figure it, and how passive losses, installment sales and REP status change it.
- Passive Loss Carryover: How Unused Rental Losses Carry Forward
Passive loss carryover rules in plain English: losses carry forward with no expiration, by activity, freed by passive income, the $25,000 allowance or a sale.
- Suspended Passive Losses and Installment Sales: The Waterfall
How an installment sale times rental gain to meet stuck passive losses year after year, why the tax on the gain can go negative, and when it is not worth it.
- How to Avoid Capital Gains Tax on Rental Property: 30 Options
Thirty legal ways to avoid, defer or spread capital gains on a rental, from a 1031 to a CRT, honestly ranked, with a routing table showing when each one wins.
- Is an Installment Sale Worth It? 3 Times It Won't Help Losses
Three real failure patterns where an installment sale does little for passive losses: the active pro, the investor whose deals pay out, the all-cash trade-down.
- One Big Beautiful Bill: What It Means for Real Estate Sellers
The One Big Beautiful Bill (2025) brought back 100% bonus and reset limits. What changed for real estate sellers, what ends, and what Congress has proposed.
- Selling a Rental That Was Your Primary Residence: 121 Rules
Selling a rental you once lived in? You may still exclude up to $250,000 or $500,000 of gain, but depreciation is taxed and some rental years cut the exclusion.
- Step-Up in Basis on Rental Property: Heirs, Depreciation, Taxes
At death a rental's basis resets to fair market value, erasing built-in gain and recapture. How it works, community property rules and what it does not cover.
- Swap Till You Drop vs Installment Sale: 1031, Borrow and Hold
Swap till you drop means 1031, borrow, and hold for the step-up. When it beats an installment sale, what the loan really costs, and where the plan breaks.
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Educational only, not tax, legal or investment advice. Examples are illustrative. Have your CPA or tax attorney review your facts before you act. Hans Goldstein is a licensed insurance agent (CA Insurance License #4273294) and is not a CPA or attorney. He is paid a commission only if a structured installment sale is funded; seller financing pays him nothing. Disclosures.