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Passive Activity Loss

On December 22, 2017, The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was signed into law. The information in this article predates the tax reform legislation and may not apply to tax returns starting in the 2018 tax year. You may wish to speak to your tax advisor about the latest tax law. This publication is provided for your convenience and does not constitute legal advice. This publication is protected by copyright.

Passive Activity Loss
In order to limit the tax benefits of tax shelters, the tax code imposes loss limitations on entities that Congress defined as passive activities. Generally, passive activities are investments in which a taxpayer does not materially participate, and losses from such investments can be used only to offset income from other passive investments and cannot be deducted against other kinds of income such as wages, pensions, interest, dividends, capital gains, etc. Most real estate and limited partnership investments are classified as passive activities. There is an exception for rentals that taxpayers actively participate in and manage which allows up to $25,000 of loss to be deducted. However, this special exception phases out for AGIs between $100,000 and $150,000.

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