Valley Tax Preparation,
Without the Stress
Valley grew around water and farmland, and many local tax returns still reflect one or the other. A lake house used as a weekend rental, a working farm outside town, or family land that is finally being sold can all create tax questions that do not appear on a typical W-2 return. In these situations, much of the value is tied to property, and property brings rules involving basis, depreciation, capital gains, rental use, and the timing and structure of a sale. The most costly mistakes are often not caused by unreported income, but by real estate and land decisions made before the tax consequences were fully understood.
Our office is about half an hour east of Valley at 12305 Gold Street in West Omaha. Valley residents choose us because our pricing is published before work begins and every return is prepared by one credentialed professional who is a CFP® professional, CFA® charterholder, and Enrolled Agent, rather than being passed to a seasonal preparer. We make communication a priority, including during the busiest weeks of tax season. Before your return is filed, you receive a recorded video that walks through the important figures, explains how key items were handled, and gives you an opportunity to review the return before it is submitted. You receive clear guidance and a better understanding of your tax situation, not just a folder and a handshake.
Ready to Get Started
Choose the way that works best for you.
Some Situations That Might Apply to You If You’re from Valley
Your own a lake house, whether you rent it out or not
A second home on the water can affect your tax return even before it is rented for a single weekend. Mortgage interest on a second residence follows its own rules, and property taxes on lakefront property can be significant. Once the home is rented, the rental property reporting becomes much more technical. A lake house rented for only a few weekends during the summer may be treated very differently from one rented for most of the season, with the result depending on the number of rental days, personal-use days, expenses, and records kept throughout the year. The documentation needed to support that treatment should be in place well before tax season.
You are selling land that has climbed in value
Land around Valley has appreciated significantly, and selling property in a single tax year can add a large capital gain to your other income and expose you to tax brackets and surtaxes you do not normally encounter. Depending on the circumstances, an installment sale may spread the gain across the years in which payments are received, while a properly structured like-kind exchange may defer the gain when one investment property is exchanged for another. If the land was inherited, the tax basis may have been adjusted to its value at the date of death, which can reduce or even eliminate much of the taxable gain when supported by proper documentation. Each of these strategies requires planning before the transaction closes, and some are subject to strict timing and procedural rules. When a sale is being considered, the tax conversation should happen before the contract is finalized, not after the proceeds have been received.
Your income is high enough that the 3.8% surtax applies
At higher income levels, the 3.8% net investment income tax may apply in addition to regular income tax, and it often affects the types of income common on Valley returns, including net rental income, interest, dividends, and capital gains from a brokerage account, and gains from selling land or a second property. The tax generally applies to the lesser of your net investment income or the amount your modified adjusted gross income exceeds the applicable threshold, so an unusually strong income year can bring it into play. Because the thresholds are not indexed for inflation, more households may become subject to the tax over time. When planning opportunities are available, timing can make a meaningful difference. Spreading a qualifying land sale across several years through an installment sale, or completing a sale during a year when other income is lower, may reduce the portion of the gain exposed to the tax.
We also prepare returns for nearby communities, including Elkhorn, Bennington, Gretna. See every community we serve on our service areas page, and every tax situation we handle on our tax situations page.
Prefer to Learn
More First
Take a quick tour of how we work and what makes us different.
Why Choose MTS