Guides Taxes, explained for agents
Taxes, explained for agents
who sell houses, not spreadsheets.
Every figure here comes from the same IRS rate table that powers the ListingLedger app — so what you read matches what your reports calculate. No fluff, no “consult a professional” filler.
- Deductions Home office deduction for real estate agents The simplified method caps at $1,500, which is why agents skip it. That misses the point: it moves the starting line on every mile you drive.
- Year-End Year-end tax timeline for agents Most year-end advice arrives in December, when half the useful moves have already expired. Here is what to do in each of the four months that decide your April.
- Getting Started First-year agent taxes: the setup nobody gives you Your brokerage onboards you into the MLS and the CRM. Nobody sets up the part where you are now a business. Here is that part, in the order it matters.
- Commissions Commission splits: what you're actually taxed on Team split, brokerage split, cap, royalty, transaction fee, E&O — where each lands on Schedule C, and the double deduction agents fall into.
- Recordkeeping Receipts, records, and audit-proofing A bank statement proves you spent money. It does not prove what the money was for — and for four categories of expense, that gap has no fallback.
- Quarterly Taxes Quarterly taxes: what to set aside per commission Nobody withholds anything from a commission check. The arithmetic behind the set-aside percentage, the safe harbor, and the 2026 due dates.
- Deductions Real estate agent tax deductions, line by line Every deduction a solo agent can take, mapped to the exact Schedule C line it belongs on — plus the four that get disallowed most often in an audit.
- Mileage What the IRS requires in a realtor's mileage log Four fields, one odometer habit, and the commuting rule that decides whether your first drive of the day counts. Plus the mid-year 2026 rate split.