Articles
- 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.
- Failed 1031 Exchange: Missed 45 or 180 Days and the Tax Fix
What happens when a 1031 exchange fails at day 45 or 180, when the gain is taxed, how a year-end sale can push it to next year, and the upside for stuck losses.
- 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.
- Tax Loss Harvesting to Offset a Real Estate Gain: The Rules
Tax loss harvesting rules for property sellers: how harvested and carried-over capital losses offset a real estate gain, the wash sale rule, and installment timing.
- Form 4797 Instructions (2026): Selling a Rental, Line by Line
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.
- Retired Real Estate Professional: Selling After You Stop Working
When a real estate professional retires, rental losses turn passive but sale gain can stay nonpassive. The 24-month rule, the 5-of-10 test and NIIT.
- Short-Term Rental Tax Strategy: The 7-Day Rule and Your W-2
How a short-term rental with an average stay of 7 days or less can create losses against a salary, what material participation takes, and what happens 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.
- Every Kind of Loss That Can Offset a Property Sale Gain
Capital losses, §1231 losses, suspended and current passive losses, and NOLs: what each does against property sale gain, and what no loss can touch.
- Excess Business Loss Limitation 2026: $256,000 / $512,000 Cap
The 2026 excess business loss limit is $256,000 single and $512,000 joint (§461(l)). How it applies after the passive rules and what becomes an NOL.
- Passive Losses Beyond Real Estate: K-1s, Oil and Gas, Equipment Leasing
How §469 treats non-real-estate passive activities: K-1 businesses, oil and gas working interests, equipment leasing, and why passive installment gain absorbs them.
- Passive Losses for Doctors: Why Rental Losses Don't Cut Your Tax
Why a physician's rental and syndication losses stay stuck under Section 469, what actually frees them, and the moves that fail in Tax Court.
- Self-Rental Rule: Renting Property to Your Own Business
The self-rental rule turns rent from your own business into nonpassive income while losses stay passive. How Reg. 1.469-2(f)(6) works, and what it does at sale.
- Syndication K-1 Losses: Why LP Losses Get Stuck, How They Free Up
Why real estate syndication K-1 losses are passive for limited partners, the gates they pass first, and the sale events that finally release them.
- 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 Rental Property in Retirement: Taxes, Timing, IRMAA
Selling a rental in retirement stacks gain on top of pensions and Social Security. The tax layers, NIIT, IRMAA, stuck losses, and when spreading the gain helps.
- 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.
- 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.
Get the full playbook. The Waterfall Strategy, the 20-minute version and the one-page Cliff Notes, free.
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 an Enrolled Agent, admitted to practice before the Internal Revenue Service, and a licensed insurance agent (CA Insurance License #4273294). He 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.