Real Estate Tax Strategy: When to Call Your CPA w/ Ted Lanzaro
Ted Lanzaro · November 3, 2026
Interview with Ted Lanzaro
Podcast: Real Estate Investing with RealDealCrew
November 3, 2026 · 33 min
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About Ted Lanzaro
Real Estate Tax Strategist, CPA, Investor & Author
35+ years Helping investors and entrepreneurs3 Tax strategy guides authoredThousands Investors and business owners helpedCPA Certified Public Accountant
Ted Lanzaro is a Certified Public Accountant, real estate investor, author, and founder of Landmark CPA Group, LLC, who has spent more than 35 years helping real estate investors and business owners make better financial decisions through proactive tax planning.
Throughout his career, Ted has worked with thousands of investors and entrepreneurs, giving him a front-row view of the mistakes that quietly cost people money. Again and again, he has seen investors wait until tax season to think about tax, treat their CPA as someone who simply reports what has already happened, or make major buying, ownership, and exit decisions without considering the tax implications until the opportunity to plan has passed. His philosophy is simple: the most valuable tax decisions are usually made long before a return is filed.
As the author of Year-Round Tax Planning for Real Estate Investors, Ted is passionate about changing the way investors think about tax strategy. Rather than treating tax as an annual compliance exercise, he shows how it can become part of the wider decision-making process around cash flow, entity structure, acquisitions, short-term rentals, syndications, holding strategies, business growth, and eventual exits.
What makes Ted’s perspective particularly practical is that he understands real estate from both sides of the table.
About this episode
Real estate tax strategy with CPATed Lanzaro: why calling your CPA in February is too late, and when to call instead.
Ted Lanzaro has spent 36 years in tax strategy and 25+ years investing, and runs Landmark CPA Group, a firm built around real estate investors. In this episode he explains why timing beats any single deduction, and lays out the three moments every investor should bring their CPA in. He walks through his "one good property a year" plan, using cost segregation and bonus depreciation to cut $300K to $400K of income, and the math behind a $128,000 tax savings. He also covers how vague contractor invoices, surprise April tax bills, and below-the-line capex quietly cost investors thousands.
Questions answered in this episode:
When should a real estate investor call their CPA?How does bonus depreciation reduce taxes on rental property?What's the difference between a repair and an improvement on a rental?How do you exit a real estate partnership without paying tax on your half?Why do house flippers get surprise tax bills in April?
About Ted: Ted Lanzaro is a CPA, real estate investor, and founder of Landmark CPA Group. He's the author of Year-Round Tax Planning for Real Estate Investors, now in its second edition.
Links:
🌐 Landmark CPA Group: https://landmarkcpagroup.com
📘 Year-Round Tax Planning for Real Estate Investors (Volume 2), on Amazon, with free bonus checklists and videos
🔗 Build systems for your investing business: https://realdealcrew.com
Chapters:
00:00 Why calling your CPA in February is too late
01:06 Ted Lanzaro on year-round tax planning for investors
03:44 From CPA to investor: buying 3 houses on day one
07:59 Tax lessons from his first rental property purchase
08:43 The co-signed mortgage mistake that capped his portfolio
09:41 How to exit a real estate partnership without a tax hit
12:17 The one good property a year tax plan
12:58 How $400K of bonus depreciation saved $128K in taxes
15:20 Why proactive tax planning beats once-a-year tax prep
16:44 The 3 times you should always call your CPA
17:06 Why to photograph a property before you renovate
17:45 Repairs vs improvements on contractor invoices
19:02 Sold a property? Call your CPA before year end
20:08 Why house flippers get blindsided by April tax bills
21:59 Syndication capex: why below the line costs deductions
22:51 Why he charges fixed fees instead of hourly
25:15 When you don't need a real estate CPA
26:59 Who a real estate CPA is built for
28:17 How investors use ChatGPT to read their tax returns
31:34 The lie investors tell about passive income
#RealEstateInvesting #RealEstateTaxes #TaxStrategy #RealEstateCPA #BonusDepreciation #CostSegregation #TaxPlanning #1031Exchange #RentalProperty #HouseFlipping #RealEstateInvestor #RealDealCrew #TedLanzaro
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Guest: Ted Lanzaro
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