Industry focus
Real Estate Accountant for Investors and Agents
Investors, landlords, developers, HOAs, property managers, mortgage brokers, title companies, and hard money lenders: we maximize your depreciation, navigate passive loss rules, and structure every deal to keep more money in your pocket.
How we work with this industry
Rental real estate is where good bookkeeping pays for itself fastest. Whether a loss is usable this year depends on how the activity is classified and on how your hours are documented, and that determination rests on records that describe your year, which are far easier to keep as it happens than to assemble in April. We keep the books by property, track basis and improvements, and handle the reporting when a property is sold or exchanged.
If you manage property for other people, the accounting problem changes shape. Security deposits, owner reserves and rent collected on someone else's behalf are funds you hold, not revenue you earned, and they have to stay separated in the records as clearly as they are separated in the bank. We keep the owner statements, the vendor payments and the management fee income distinct, so each owner's ledger reconciles on its own.
Florida adds its own items. The state has repealed its sales tax on commercial rent, which removed a filing a great many landlords here still think they have, but it left the tax in place on short-term and vacation rentals, parking, and boat and aircraft storage. A sale involving a foreign owner brings withholding into the closing. A good share of the ownership in this market lives outside the country, and we handle both sides of that in English or Spanish.
What We Do
What We Handle for Owners and Property Managers
The work that turns a portfolio of doors into a set of numbers you can act on.
Books Kept Property by Property
Each address carries its own income, expenses, mortgage and capital spending, and the portfolio rolls up. You can see which door earns and which one has been carried by the others for years.
Depreciation, Basis and Improvements
A schedule per property that starts at purchase and stays current as you improve, refinance or replace major components, so the number you need at sale exists before you need it.
Trust Accounts and Security Deposits
For managers holding funds on behalf of owners and tenants, deposits and reserves are recorded as liabilities and reconciled separately from your own operating money.
Florida Sales Tax Where It Still Applies
The commercial rent tax is gone, but rentals of six months or less, parking, and boat and aircraft storage are still taxable. Registration, the DR-15 on your assigned frequency and the county surtax, reconciled to what the bookings and leases actually bill.
Sales, Exchanges and FIRPTA
Gain calculated from a basis schedule rather than from memory, exchange reporting when you defer, and the withholding and filings that apply when the seller is a foreign person.
Entity Returns, K-1s and Your 1040
Partnership or corporate returns, the Schedule E detail, and your individual return prepared together, so passive losses and carryforwards are tracked across years instead of restarted each spring.
Common Problems
Where Real Estate Books Go Wrong
Four habits that cost owners real money, usually years after they start.
Repairs and Improvements Treated Alike
A roof and a leak fix are not the same entry. Coding capital work as a repair, or a repair as capital work, distorts this year's result and quietly corrupts the basis you will need when the property sells.
Security Deposits Booked as Income
A deposit is a tenant's money you are holding. Recording it as rent inflates the year it came in, creates a shortfall when it is returned, and, for a manager, blurs the line the account was opened to keep clear.
Every Door in One Ledger
A single pooled account for the whole portfolio hides the property that loses money and makes the gain on any individual sale a reconstruction project. Separation costs nothing at setup and is expensive to retrofit.
A Basis Nobody Ever Tracked
Purchase price, closing costs, improvements and depreciation already claimed all feed the gain at sale. Owners who never kept that record either overpay or spend the closing period digging through a decade of invoices.
Services we offer in this industry
The services most often used by businesses in this industry. Each one is led by an Enrolled Agent.
Related industries
Financial Services & Insurance
Brokers, financial advisors, insurance agents, mortgage lenders, and wealth managers: K-1 reporting, deferred comp, investment income, and licensing cost deductions handled with precision.
Entertainment & Content Creators
Musicians, actors, YouTubers, podcasters, social media influencers, and athletes: we build loan-out corps, manage multi-state filings, and turn your creative hustle into a tax-efficient business.
Stock & Options Traders
Day traders, swing traders, options specialists, and retail investors: we handle Section 475 mark-to-market elections, Section 1256 reporting, wash sale traps, and estimated taxes before the IRS comes knocking.
Related guides
Short-Term Rental Loophole: 7-Day Rule, 100 and 500 Hour Tests
A short-term rental with an average guest stay of 7 days or less is not a rental activity under the IRS passive activity rules, so meeting one material participation test turns the loss nonpassive against wages.
100% Bonus Depreciation Is Permanent: 2026 Section 179 Cap $2,560,000
Public Law 119-21 made the 100% first year deduction permanent for qualified property acquired after January 19, 2025, and set the 2026 Section 179 cap at $2,560,000 with the phase down starting at $4,090,000.
Common questions
Questions we hear in this industry
Straight answers, from an Enrolled Agent.
Contact Us
Need help in your industry?
Talk to us about how we can help you stay compliant and grow.