Single-Family Rentals 2017 Tax Strategies

 These changes pertain to your  2017 taxes which most of you will file in the first three months of 2018.  I have chosen only a few of the updates for 2017 that I believe may be most helpful for single-family real estate investors. Be sure to check with your tax adviser if these or any other changes effective in 2017 need to be considered in conjunction with your tax strategy for your  single-family real estate investment portfolio.  There are other changes to personal income tax as well you may need to know. For a more detailed  look at these changes and other changes check out this tax change portion of the   IRS website.

For tax year 2017, the standard deduction is up $100 from the prior year. For single taxpayers and married individuals filing separately, the standard deduction rises to $6,350 in 2017, up from $6,300 in 2016, and for heads of households, the standard deduction will be $9,350 for tax year 2017, up from $9,300 for tax year 2016.Tax brackets adjusted for inflation.

The good news is that inflation has been nominal, meaning there wasn’t a large shift upwards in the tax schedule. For tax year 2017, the 39.6 percent tax rate affects single taxpayers whose income exceeds $418,400 ($470,700 for married taxpayers filing jointly), up from $415,050 and $466,950, respectively.

The limitation for itemized deductions to be claimed on tax year 2017 returns of individuals begins with incomes of $287,650 or more ($313,800 for married couples filing jointly).

Estates of decedents who die during 2017 have a basic exclusion amount of $5,490,000, up from a total of $5,450,000 for estates of decedents who died in 2016.

The Alternative Minimum Tax exemption amount for tax year 2017 is $54,300 and begins to phase out at $120,700 ($84,500, for married couples filing jointly for whom the exemption begins to phase out at $160,900). The 2016 exemption amount was $53,900 ($83,800 for married couples filing jointly).  For tax year 2017, the 28 percent tax rate applies to taxpayers with taxable incomes above $187,800 ($93,900 for married individuals filing separately).

Among the various retirement tools at your disposal, the traditional IRA is among the most popular. Traditional IRAs are tax-deferred accounts, meaning you’ll pay tax once you begin making withdrawals during retirement. But, they can also provide an ancillary benefit of lowering your current-year tax liability. In 2017, the phase-out range for taking this deduction increases $1,000 to $62,000 to $72,000 for single taxpayers, and $99,000 to $119,000 for married couples filing jointly.For those of you investing with a Roth IRA — a retirement account with no upfront tax deduction, but which has the ability to grow tax-free for life — the individual phase-out to be able to contribute rose $1,000 for single filers to a range of $118,000 to $133,000, while it jumped $2,000 for married couples filing jointly to a range of $186,000 to $196,000. In other words, a few extra people should be able to contribute to a traditional or Roth IRA in 2017 because of these modest increases.