19. How We Saved $1 million in Taxes Using Real Estate

In this episode of Paging Financial Freedom, Dr. Daniel Shin and Lila Kaplan break down the real estate tax strategies that have helped them collectively save more than $1 million in taxes over the past decade. They explain depreciation, Real Estate Professional Status (REPS), the short-term rental tax strategy and 1031 exchanges, while sharing real examples from their own portfolios and tax returns. If you’re a physician, spouse or high-income professional investing in real estate, this episode offers a practical introduction to how these strategies work, what requirements investors need to understand and why having the right real estate CPA matters. Timestamps: 00:00 – Introduction 00:45 – Why Real Estate Investors Should Understand Taxes 01:50 – How Daniel & Lila Saved Over $1 Million in Taxes 04:02 – Four Real Estate Tax Strategies to Know 05:11 – How Depreciation Works 07:31 – Real Estate Professional Status (REPS) 09:15 – Using Depreciation to Offset Active Income 11:44 – Lila’s Experience With REPS 13:50 – How Daniel Qualified for REPS as a Physician 15:08 – The Short-Term Rental Tax Strategy 17:27 – Reinvesting Your Tax Savings 18:16 – Depreciation Recapture & 1031 Exchanges 20:27 – Understanding the 1031 Exchange Rules 21:01 – Why You Need a Real Estate CPA ˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍ Links from the Episode: 🔗 Paging Financial Freedom Podcast on Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... 🔗 Paging Financial Freedom Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2zZ232c... 🔗 Dr. Daniel Shin’s Real Estate Fund: https://cereusrealestate.com/ 🔗 Lila Kaplan’s Real Estate Investment Firm: https://silverbackequitypartners.com/ ˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍ Stay Connected with Us: 👉 LinkedIn: Daniel Shin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-h-... Lila Kaplan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lilamengk... 👉 Instagram: Daniel: https://www.instagram.com/thedarwinia... Lila Kaplan: https://www.instagram.com/lilamengkap...