Here’s a question we got from Sue in California (thanks Sue!):

If we have a property manager, can we write off travel costs from CA to Memphis for us to visit the property?  If so, how many times a year can we visit and write off the costs?

Since we aren’t tax gurus, we tossed the question to our good friend, CPA Tom Wheelwright, who answers:

The rule for any business expense is that in order for it to be deductible, it must have:

1. a business purpose;
2. be ordinary in the course of your business; and
3. be necessary

If you are visiting the property to check up on it and the manager, clearly this will be a business purpose.

If the amount of the expense is reasonable compared to the income you make from the property, then you should meet the “ordinary” test.

If visiting the property will help you make more money from the property (meeting with the property manager, coming up with new ideas to increase the rent, etc.), then you should meet the “necessary” test.

Each time you visit, or incur any expense for that matter, you must meet all three of these tests.  They are somewhat subjective, so be wise in how you document your expenses and the activities you pursue while you are visiting the property and/or the property manager.

So there you have it!  From the brain of Tom to our blog.

Tom Wheelwright is a Certified Public Accountant and Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Advisor® for tax planning.  Tom is also joining The Real Estate Guys™ as a faculty member for our 1oth Annual Investor Summit at Sea™ he will be teaching, talking tax and hanging with all of our Summiteers – including our very special guests Robert and Kim Kiyosaki LIVE and IN PERSON for the ENTIRE week!  Plus, Tom is a frequent guest on The Real Estate Guys™ radio show where he shares valuable pearls of tax wisdom.  Click here to hear the latest episode featuring Tom.

And unless you’re Warren Buffett, we’re guessing you’d probably rather pay LESS tax than more.

Maybe when we’re multi-mega-billionaires like Warren, we’ll want to pay more too.  Give us a few years and we’ll let you know. For right now, less tax is better.  We’d rather save on taxes today and use the money to buy more real estate.  Weird, we know…but that’s just us.

The GOOD NEWS is that even while most governments’ appetites for taxes is growing, real estate investors still enjoy some of the best tax deductions and benefits there are!

To learn more about this taxing topic, we flew to Arizona and met face to face with Tom Wheelwright.  He says with proper planning, real estate investors can get their effective income tax rate to ZERO!

Manning the microphones for another exciting escapade into broadcast brilliance:

• Your host with benefits, Robert Helms
• Your big zero co-host, Russell Gray
• A master of brilliant deductions, Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Tax Advisor and CPA, Tom Wheelwright

Zero tax!  Now THAT sounds pretty stimulating.  In fact, Tom says the tax code is a treasure map to a series of stimulus programs.  So to get your personal economy working better, be sure to organize your investing to maximize tax deductions and tax benefits.

Tom tells us:

• Why the tax code is a powerful tool for increasing your cash flow and accelerating  your real estate wealth building
• How to avoid the number one MOST COMMON MISTAKE real estate investors make on their tax returns
• How to save money on everyday items by using the tax code to make more of your expenses tax deductible
• Why every dollar saved in taxes is worth five dollars of real estate!

And there’s even more!  So grab a note pad and listen in as The Real Estate Guys™ interview CPA Tom Wheelwright.

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The Real Estate Guys™ radio show and podcast provides real estate investing news, education, training and resources to helps real estate investors succeed. Visit us on Facebook!

Robert Kiyosaki and his Rich Dad Advisors® will be talking about how investors can capitalize on all the turmoil in today’s economic environment.  Gold is at all time highs.  Interest rates are at historic lows.  The US is teetering on the brink of default as the debt ceiling debate rages on.  Wouldn’t you like to know what several successful real world investors are thinking?  We do!

Robert Kiyosaki is one of our favorite financial gurus. We know he’s sometimes controversial, but we don’t get the criticisms.  He preaches the importance of education, surrounding yourself with qualified professionals, and understanding that most of the world’s financial marketing and “education” programs are designed to steer uninformed consumers into the waiting arms of brokerage houses, bankers and tax collectors.  Kiyosaki says financial education is essential to your economic well being. What’s controversial about that?

Besides, whether you agree with him or not, the fact remains that he’s the best selling financial author in the history of the planet.  That alone makes him worth listening to, since millions of people around the world are influenced by him.

As for us, we like Robert and his advisors a lot.  We’re very fortunate to get backstage with the Kiyosakis and many of their advisors.  If you’re a regular listener to The Real Estate Guys™ radio show or podcast, then you know we’ve had Rich Dad Advisors Ken McElroy and Wayne Palmer as faculty on our last two Summits.  And not only are Ken and Wayne coming back for 2012, but Robert and Kim Kiyosaki will also be on board the Summit for the entire week!

We’ve gotten great personal and professional advice from Robert and the Rich Dad Advisors that has made a positive difference in our lives. We’re big fans. We think the world will be much better off as every day working people make it a priority to expand their financial education.  It’s why we do the radio show, run our mentoring clubs, promote Rich Dad and others who believe in education, and run around collecting interviews and expert opinions from as many people as we can.  Ideas, information, strategies and perspectives from lots of sources are a great way to form your own well-crafted opinions.

We encourage you to join us and listen in to Robert, Kim and the Rich Advisors on August 11th as they talk about the pressing economic issues of today and where the opportunities are.  The event isn’t free, but it sure isn’t expensive!  It’s a very small investment in your education which has the potential to pay huge dividends.  Afterwards, drop us a note on our Feedback page and let us know what you thought.

Not Christmas. Tax time!  This is the time of year when all the bills from the holidays show up in the mail, along with your 1098’s, 1099’s, W2’s, 1040′s and our personal favorite, the K1.  Let the fun begin!

Before you tune out, we invite you to listen to our recent interview with CPA Tom Wheelwright.  He promised us he could make taxes fun, to which we said, “Great!”

So we broke out some month-old eggnog, stoked the fire in the fireplace, and tossed a few chestnuts into the pan for some good old fashion roasting.

Huddled around the microphones to talk taxes:
•    Your Host, Robert Helms
•    Co-host and Financial Strategist, Russell Gray
•    A man who has probably paid more taxes than everyone else on the show combined, The Godfather of Real Estate, Bob Helms
•    Certified Public Accountant, Tom Wheelwright

Like little kids on Christmas morning, we came into the studio to open up gifts of tax wisdom from one of the brightest real estate tax advisors we know.  After a few opening comments, we got Tom Wheelwright on the phone and started the grilling.

Tom opened up with some paradigm breakers as he explained that taxes are not only fun, but actually a very powerful tool for wealth creation.  Wow! Sounds good to us!

Then we asked him, “What are the most common and costly mistakes most real estate investors make?”  One of his answers astounded us when he told us about a special form every investor should know about, but few use properly.  Getting it wrong can cost you many thousands of dollars!

It would be sacrilegious to talk taxes and leave out 1031 exchanges, but for most experienced investors, the 1031 is old news.  And in today’s challenging economy with so much equity in hiding, who cares about a 1031 anyway?  So Tom gave us some great tips on why we might NOT want to use a 1031 exchange.  What????

Now that the eggnog was kicking in, we got into some of the tax changes for 2010 (and beyond) that affect real estate investors.  Then he gave us the inside scoop on how to find a great real estate CPA.

Before we knew it, the show was over!  Time flies when you’re having fun.  The topic wasn’t as taxing as we thought!

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by Robert Kiyosaki and 22 Contributing Co-Authors

He’s back.

Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, one of the best selling books in history, is back talking about real estate!  Why now?  He says the rules have changed and the numbers make sense again.

In The REAL Book of Real Estate, Kiyosaki compiles real estate investing wisdom from 22 veteran experts.  The Real Estate Guys had a chance to talk personally with Mr. K. about this book and the unusual timing of its release.  You would think that a book on real estate investing would be a hard sell in this post meltdown world.  And it is.

But the book was released now to help investors who’ve only known boom times.  It shares the knowledge and perspectives of veterans who’ve survived and thrived through previous real estate market cycles (which is lesson #1:  real estate cycles, it doesn’t disappear).   If real estate isn’t “over”, then the question remains: where are the opportunities and how can I find or create them?  That’s what this book addresses.  It might be a bad time to sell a book on real estate investing, but that might make it a great time to pick up bargain properties.  This book will teach you many of the things you need to know.

What we like best about it is that it’s immensely readable.  It isn’t a book about theory.  It’s very real world practical.  And you can start anywhere, as each author’s work is a stand alone discussion about their particular area of expertise.  It’s as much a reference manual as an educational work.

We like it.   We’ve been around real estate for awhile and we learned a lot.  We think you will too.

Order your copy today – and be sure to visit the archives to listen to The Real Estate Guys’ exclusive interviews with Robert Kiyosaki and many of his contributing co-authors.  Let us know what you think!