Hiring · 7 min read
Real Estate CPA vs General CPA
A general CPA can file a Schedule E. A real estate CPA structures depreciation, qualifies you for real estate professional status, runs cost segregation studies, and times your 1031 exchanges. The difference usually shows up as five-to-six figures of tax savings per year for active investors.
What a general CPA gets right
- Files Schedule E rental income and expenses
- Tracks basic depreciation on 27.5 or 39-year schedules
- Reports gain/loss on dispositions
- Handles standard passive activity loss rules at a basic level
What a real estate CPA does better
- Cost segregation studies and bonus depreciation timing
- Real Estate Professional Status (REPS) qualification and documentation
- Short-term rental loophole (≤7 day average stays)
- 1031 exchange forward, reverse, and improvement structures
- Passive activity loss grouping and release strategies
- Entity structuring for liability and tax efficiency
- Self-rental rules and active vs passive determinations
- Opportunity Zone investments and deferral planning
Real-world cost of using a generalist
Common missed items at general CPAs: no cost seg analysis on a $1.5M property (lost $200k+ in year-one depreciation), failing to document REPS hours (lost active loss treatment), filing a 1031 with sloppy timing (taxable boot), and treating an STR as passive when it qualifies as non-passive (lost W-2 offset).
