Placed in Service Date for STRs: · 🏠 Lower Taxes w/ Ryan

Placed in Service Date for STRs:

Hey everyone! 👋 Hope you're all crushing it today.

I’ve been seeing a LOT of mixed info online about STR tax rules, so I figured… why not ask the real pros here (and of course

@Ryan Bakke, CPA

)

I’ve got a few key questions:

1️⃣ 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐓𝐑 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 “𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞”?

Is it:

when you go under contract?
at closing?
or when the listing actually goes live on Airbnb/VRBO?

2️⃣ 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐬 + 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐩 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞?

From what I understand, any renovations, touch-ups, cleaning, repairs, etc. before the property is placed in service have to be capitalized rather than expensed. Is that actually correct?

3️⃣𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝-𝐢𝐧-𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧?

Specifically:

Can hours spent on financing, due diligence, or acquisition count toward the 100-hour rule… even though all of that usually happens before the place-in-service date?

At the end of the day, I’m trying to figure out the smartest strategy to:

✅ maximize deductions

✅ maximize hours for material participation

…while getting a new STR fully Airbnb-ready.

Appreciate any insights from the experts here! 🙌

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