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The House has just reduced the TCJA Technical Corrections/Tax Extenders Bill from 297 pages to 253 pages. `Woah, democracy in progress !

I have been to a couple of seminars on the QBI, read the NAEA journal article published before the regs were released, and read a lot of point and counterpoint. Right now even the authors/presenters are saying we have to wait and see. Some are leaning toward recognizing rental income of small landlords as QBI, others say probably not. All are concluding "not sure yet." At issue is that "trade or business" is defined differently in two parts of the code, and the TCJA and regs refer to both of them. Earlier this fall (after the regs were published) the national accountancy board responded to an IRS request about what areas of the new law most needed clarification. At the top of their list was the issue of rental income for non-real estate professionals. It is too early for any of us to know the answer.

What do the Regulations say? This ain't good. They are sticking it to us. The regulations require that every business be able to separately establish that it rises to the level of a Section 162 trade or business, and that means big problems for landlords. There's not even a carve-out for real estate professionals under Section 469(c)(7), meaning even those who truly ply their trade in the rental real estate world will have to establish that the rentals satisfy the nebulous Section 162 standard. The regulations provide only one exception, found at Reg. Section 1.199A-1(b)(13), which provides that if a taxpayer rents or leases tangible or intangible property to a commonly controlled trade or business (a self-rental), the self-rental activity is treated as a Section 162 trade or business. https://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonynitti/2018/08/09/irs-provides-guidance-on-20-pass-through-deduction-but-questions-remain/#4e9cd1602ff8

The installation code IS your registration code.

First the the 20 % PTE deduction is taken on Form 1040 on the lower of QBI or Form 1040 Taxable Income. Therefore you could have positive QBI and zero taxable income resulting in a zero PTE Deduction.

Oops. It looks as if I have made an error and confused clients. Have patience you too will get older.

First question is WHY is he getting a W2 from a partnership he owns? He should be getting "guaranteed payments" on a K-1, subject to SE tax. At first glance there are more problems than merely "does this get the reduction" going on.

We hope. With all the changes, possibly early February if you feeling pessimistic. Never thought I would be more pessimistic than Jack.