Flipping houses—buying distressed properties, renovating them, and then selling them for a profit—has become a popular venture in the real estate market. The potential for substantial returns can be enticing. However, it’s crucial for house flippers to understand the tax implications associated with their endeavors. In this article, we’ll explore how flipping houses for profit can impact your taxes and the key considerations you should be aware of.
Capital Gains Tax
One of the primary tax considerations for house flippers is the capital gains tax. Profits made from the sale of a property are generally classified as capital gains. The tax rate on these gains depends on the holding period. Short-term capital gains, which apply to properties held for one year or less, are typically taxed at higher rates than long-term capital gains.
If you’re flipping houses, your gains will likely fall into the short-term category, which are taxed like ordinary income. This could potentially impact the overall profitability of your business. This happens because the IRS classifies you as a dealer with real estate inventory, rather than an investor with capital assets. If your profits are being taxed like regular income, it also means it’s subject to the 15.3% self-employment tax.
Flipping houses often involves various expenses, such as renovation costs, property taxes, insurance, and interest on loans. While a normal homeowner would typically be able to deduct these costs, house flippers have stricter limitations. To deduct these costs, you’ll need to capitalize them into the basis of the property. In other words, the cost of renovating the home will be added to the original value of the property. In turn, this will reduce the amount of taxable gain when you sell the house.
Capitalized Costs
Capitalized costs are basically expenses incurred from a purchase that you expect to directly result in a financial benefit. The costs that you can typically include when you capitalized the basis of a property include:
Real estate taxes
Costs associated with purchasing the home, including closing costs
Materials and labor
Utilities
Rent
Equipment depreciation
Insurance
While capitalized costs increase your cost basis, there are other expenses that can reduce it. These include depreciation, insurance payments received for a casualty or theft, or home energy tax credits.
After renovating the home, the amount of capital gains tax you pay will be on any profit made above the entire cost basis of the property. For example, let’s sayyou purchased a property for $300,000 and did $70,000 worth of improvements to the property. This puts your cost basis at $370,000. After six months of owning the property, you sell the property for $500,000. You would be responsible for paying capital gains tax on the profits of $130,000 ($500,000 – $370,000).
Depreciation Recapture
If you claimed depreciation on the property when you owned it, you may be subject to depreciation recapture when selling. Depreciation recapture requires you to pay taxes on the depreciation deductions you previously claimed. This can result in additional tax liabilities when flipping properties. The recaptured depreciation is typically taxed at the ordinary income tax rate. This rate can be higher than the capital gains tax rate. This is because the depreciation deductions you previously claimed reduced your ordinary income in those years. That said, when recaptured, it is taxed at the ordinary income rate.
1031 Exchange
To defer capital gains taxes, some real estate investors utilize a 1031 exchange. Doing so allows them to reinvest the proceeds from the sale of one property into another like-kind property. While this strategy can be advantageous, strict rules must be followed to qualify for the tax deferral. For example, you must identify potential replacement properties within 45 days of selling the relinquished property. The acquisition of the replacement property must be completed within 180 days of the sale of the relinquished property.
Additionally, you must reinvest all the proceeds from the sale of the relinquished property into the replacement property. Any cash or non-like-kind property received in the exchange may be subject to capital gains taxes. For example, let’s assume you had a mortgage of $800,000 on the old property. The mortgage on your new property is $700,000. In this scenario, you have a $100,000 gain that will be taxed, likely as a capital gain. This is typically where most investors get mixed up when attempting to use a 1031 exchange.
Tax Help for House Flippers
Flipping houses for profit can be a lucrative venture, but it comes with significant tax implications. Understanding the tax landscape is crucial for optimizing your profits and ensuring compliance with tax laws. Seeking the guidance of a tax professional or accountant with experience in real estate transactions is advisable to navigate the complexities of house flipping and minimize your tax liability. By staying informed and making informed financial decisions, you can maximize your returns and build a successful house-flipping business while staying in good standing with the tax authorities. Optima Tax Relief is the nation’s leading tax resolution firm with over $1 billion in resolved tax liabilities.
If You Need Tax Help, Contact Us Today for a Free Consultation
Ordinary Income vs. Capital Gains: Generally, the money you make from flipping is taxed as ordinary income, regardless of how long you hold onto a property. But if you keep a property for more than a year, it might fall under capital gains tax, which can be up to 20%.
Short-term capital gains, which apply to properties held for one year or less, are typically taxed at higher rates than long-term capital gains. If you're flipping houses, your gains will likely fall into the short-term category, which are taxed like ordinary income.
A few options to legally avoid paying capital gains tax on investment property include buying your property with a retirement account, converting the property from an investment property to a primary residence, utilizing tax harvesting, and using Section 1031 of the IRS code for deferring taxes.
You can write off many expenses of your house flipping business. Here are some common tax deductions you may be able to make: House improvement cost on sold properties. You cannot deduct the purchase cost of the flip before selling the house.
Resolution of Tax Debt: Optima has resolved over $1 billion in tax debt for clients, indicating a strong track record of helping people settle their tax liabilities.
Active income is money that you earn in exchange for the work that you perform. That includes your salary from work, as well as the profits you make flipping houses. Flipping is considered active income, regardless of whether you are doing the physical labor of stripping floors.
Flipping houses in California remains a lucrative venture. You can generate $78,270 in revenue per flip. The median resale price for flipped homes in California is $578,060. However, this price varies based on the location, initial purchase expenses, and the after-repair value.
The easiest way to lower capital gains taxes is to simply hold taxable assets for one year or longer to benefit from the long-term capital gains tax rate.
Frequently Asked Questions about Capital Gains Tax
You might be able to defer capital gains by buying another home. As long as you sell your first investment property and apply your profits to the purchase of a new investment property within 180 days, you can defer taxes.
By paying cash you lose a potentially valuable tax write-off in the mortgage interest deduction. Mortgage interest may be deductible on mortgages up to $750,000 for taxpayers who itemize (your property tax payments may also be deductible, regardless of whether you have a mortgage).
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) classifies flipping houses as either a business or an investment. Business Activity: If you are engaged in house flipping as a business, regularly buying and selling properties with the intent of making a profit, you may be considered self-employed.
No; similar to managing a rental property, when flipping a house, you cannot deduct the value of your own labor. The IRS does not allow individuals to deduct the value of their personal labor on a project, whether it's for repairs, renovations, or improvements.
The class action Optima Tax Relief lawsuit alleges misconduct, negligence, and potential violations of consumer protection laws. Accusations against Optima Tax Relief include unfulfilled promises, misleading information, excessive fees, a lack of communication, and unauthorized actions.
Most tax relief programs won't handle debts worth less than about $10,000 because the fees you pay for the service are more likely to exceed any negotiated savings on small debts. Even if you owe more than $10,000, you have to decide if the fees are worth having a third party negotiate on your behalf.
Borrowing to cover your tax expenses can sometimes be a good option, but the IRS also offers payment plans that might cost you less in interest and fees—and won't risk harm to your credit.
Homeowners who itemize deductions may reduce their taxable income by deducting interest paid on a home mortgage even though the return on the home does not generate taxable income. Taxpayers who do not own their homes have no comparable ability to deduct interest paid on debt incurred to purchase goods and services.
The grand finale of your house flipping saga is the sale. Once your renovated masterpiece has a new owner, it's time to crunch the numbers. The sale price minus the adjusted basis (original purchase price plus improvements) equals your capital gain or loss.
The truth: Taxable income includes any income made from sales, whether you're a casual seller, hobby seller, or a business. For example, let's say your hobby is thrifting old pieces of furniture, and sometimes you flip them for a profit.
Introduction: My name is Barbera Armstrong, I am a lovely, delightful, cooperative, funny, enchanting, vivacious, tender person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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