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I also look up the property tax assessment. If the land is say 15% of the tax assessor’s total, I assign 15% of the number you’re working with to land.

I will believe NOTHING, until the IRS issues the regulations. Till then, nothing changes.

In the MSA section, they mention that both MSA and HRA are very similar, so deleting MSA and having HRA simplifies. Attached is a PDF of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act H.R. 1 Section-by-Section Summary House_Summary 110317.pdf

The cry for years is a tax system where everyone pays the same rate. Now that the changes are ready to be put in place to move toward that, all those that have paid very little or no tax are PLAYING VICTIM!! I want every person to have some skin in the tax system. When 50% pay no tax or get back more than was withheld, that is not the "fair" system all the people are demanding. These changes will not please everyone, but moves the system toward EVERYONE having a part in paying taxes.

For years, there was an 80/20 rule that was a good approximation for most of the country. That was when RE prices grew at a rate of 1% above the rate of inflation. However, beginning in the 1980's with land conservancy trusts, which took a lot of buildable land off the market. the added expense of environmental impast studies, and then the easy financing policies from the 90's on, price growth became skewed particularly in the East and West coastal areas. On the one hand there were actions decreasing supply and increasing costs and financial and lending policies increasing demand. Now, it is not possible to make estimates of the Building/Land ratios because they are all over the place. So, now, as Catherine suggests, it is best to use property tax statements to get the right ratio. A good example of both methods is found in a return I prepared recently. The client had lived on the East Coast and was transferred to SF, in 2015, where he bought a rental property. He had his usual preparer in CT prepare the 2015 return and this preparer used the 80/20 rule. However, his property tax statement for 2016 was nearly the reverse of this. It was 30% Building and 70% Land. There is an interesting interactive chart that shows the relative price changes, from 1980 to 2016, for 3 US cities. You can have a little fun with this clicking on the other cities to the right of the chart . The east and west coast cities showed the largest bubbles; mid-western cities not so much, but Pittsburgh was a straight line, meaning it was barely affected by the housing chaos. https://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2016/08/daily-chart-20

Nov. 3, 2017 The IRS has not yet announced a date that it will begin accepting individual tax returns for the 2018 tax filing season. At the present time, the IRS is continuing to update its programming and processing systems for 2018. In addition, the IRS continues to closely monitor potential legislation that could affect the 2018 tax season, including a number of “extender” tax provisions that expired at the end of 2016 that could potentially be renewed for tax year 2017 by Congress. The IRS anticipates it will not be at a point to announce a filing season start date until later in the calendar year. The IRS will continue to work closely with the nation’s tax professionals and software community as preparations continue for the 2018 tax filing season. Speculation on the Internet that the IRS will begin accepting tax returns on Jan. 22 or after the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday in January is inaccurate and misleading; no such date has been set. https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-statement-on-2018-filing-season-start-date

It's good to have a niche you are good at. I do maybe 3 EITC returns, don't see the horrific issues others have mentioned. JMO but the irregular health insurance junk annoys me far more.

If the criterion for business use is that one's significant other won't get in your vehicle, then I'm in great shape. I can start deducting mileage on my car, because my wife absolutely refuses to ride in it.