A real estate professional (investor or broker) who owns rental property is allowed to deduct an unlimited amount of rental losses each year. No one else can do this. Real estate pros can because they are not subject to the dreaded passive loss rules.
But it gets even better. Real estate professionals are also not subject to the 3.8 percent net investment income tax on their real estate income. The NII tax was enacted to help fund “Obamacare” and took effect with the 2013 tax year. (However, real estate pros do have to pay the 3.8 percent tax on investment income, such as interest and dividends.)
So being a real estate professional can now save you on taxes whether your real estate ventures make or lose money. As a result, everyone and their brother now wants to qualify as a real estate pro. This includes not just individuals, but legal entities that own real estate, such as trusts.
A taxpayer qualifies as a real estate professional if:
1. More than half of the personal services that he performs during that year are performed in real property trades or businesses in which he materially participates; and
2. He performs more than 750 hours of services during that tax year in real property trades or businesses in which he materially participates. (IRC Sec. 469(c)(7)(B))
via US Tax Court ruling could save real estate trusts millions | Inman News.