Real Estate Agents
Big commission checks don't mean much if you can't tell what you actually netted.
Big Checks, Blurry Numbers
A $15,000 commission check hits your account. Feels like a great month. But the brokerage took their split, so it was really $10,500. You spent $1,200 on Zillow leads. Another $400 on listing photography. MLS dues, lockbox fees, E&O insurance, gas from three weeks of driving buyers around the South Shore. By the time you account for everything, that $15,000 check might have netted you $6,000. Maybe less.
Most real estate agents don’t track this. The check comes in, it goes into the same account as everything else, and expenses get paid as they come up. At the end of the year you look at your bank balance and try to figure out whether it was a good year or not. That’s not a financial strategy. That’s hoping for the best.
Who This Covers
Who This Covers
Individual agents, buyer’s agents, listing agents, real estate teams, brokers running small offices, and property managers handling their own books. Anyone working on commission in the Riverview, South Shore, or greater Tampa Bay market.
What Makes It Complicated
What Makes It Complicated
Irregular income that swings month to month. Brokerage splits that change once you hit your cap. Marketing costs spread across multiple platforms. Constant vehicle expenses from showing properties. Referral fees paid out to other agents. Self-employment tax obligations with nobody withholding anything from your checks.
What We Handle
Real estate agent bookkeeping means tracking income after splits and organizing expenses into categories that matter at tax time. Every dollar you spend on marketing, driving, professional development, and technology is potentially deductible. But only if it’s tracked properly throughout the year. We set up your books so everything is organized and ready when filing season arrives.
Most agents either use a spreadsheet that falls apart by March or dump everything into QuickBooks without any real structure. Neither approach gives you useful information. We configure your accounting so you can see what you actually net per transaction, what your marketing costs relative to closings, and where money is going each month.
Income and Expense Tracking
Income and Expense Tracking
Commission income recorded net of brokerage splits. Referral fees tracked separately. Expenses categorized properly including marketing, vehicle, office, technology, professional dues, and continuing education. QuickBooks Online set up to reflect how your business actually works instead of a generic template that doesn’t fit.
Tax Prep and Quarterly Estimates
Tax Prep and Quarterly Estimates
Business and personal tax returns prepared with all real estate deductions captured. Quarterly estimated payments calculated based on actual closings so April doesn’t turn into a crisis. We also review your entity structure to determine if an S-Corp election could reduce what you owe in self-employment tax.
Where Agents Lose Money
The biggest tax mistake real estate agents make is not paying quarterly estimates. You’re a 1099 independent contractor. Nobody withholds taxes from your commission checks. If you close a strong year without sending quarterly payments, you’ll owe a large sum in April plus penalties for underpayment. We see this constantly with agents who had a great year and then scramble to find $20,000 or more they weren’t expecting to owe.
The second problem is missed deductions. You drove 18,000 miles showing properties this year. At the current IRS mileage rate, that’s over $12,000 in deductions. But you didn’t log it, so you can’t claim it. Same story with marketing expenses paid on personal cards, continuing education costs you forgot about, and the home office where you do all your transaction coordination. Every missed deduction is real money lost.
No Quarterly Estimates
No Quarterly Estimates
A strong commission year with no quarterly payments can easily mean owing $25,000 or more in April once you add self-employment tax and underpayment penalties. We calculate and track quarterly estimates throughout the year based on your actual income so you are never blindsided by the total.
Deductions Left on the Table
Deductions Left on the Table
Mileage, home office, marketing, professional photography, staging costs, MLS fees, association dues, E&O insurance, continuing education, CRM subscriptions, client gifts. Agents routinely miss thousands in legitimate deductions because nothing was tracked during the year. You can’t claim what you can’t document.
What Changes
You know what you actually make. Not gross commission. Not what hit your bank account. Your real net income after every expense, split, and tax obligation. That number might be different from what you assumed, and knowing it changes how you make decisions about marketing spend, which clients to pursue, and whether your brokerage arrangement still makes sense.
Tax season becomes predictable instead of stressful. Quarterly estimates are handled throughout the year. Every deduction is documented and ready. Your return gets prepared by a CPA who understands how real estate agent income works. No scrambling for receipts in March. No surprise bill in April. You spend your time listing and closing instead of worrying about the financial side of running your business.
Real Numbers for Real Decisions
Real Numbers for Real Decisions
Per-transaction profitability shows what you actually earn on each deal after all costs. Marketing spend tracked against closings shows which lead sources produce results and which are burning money. You can evaluate whether to switch brokerages, build a team, or invest in a new platform based on data instead of gut feeling.
Tax Confidence Year Round
Tax Confidence Year Round
Every deduction captured as it happens. Quarterly estimates paid on time with no penalties. Entity structure reviewed and optimized to reduce self-employment tax where it makes sense. A clean, organized file ready for your return with no surprises and no last-minute scramble to pull things together.
Tampa Bay's Small Business CPA Firm
First Step:
A Short Conversation
Tell us about your business and where you need support. We'll walk through your situation, answer your questions, and give you a clear quote.
