When IRA-owned property is held for rent, the management of the rental property must be structured such that rental income is received by the IRA and expenses are paid by the IRA. The IRA owner and other disqualified persons (e.g. IRA owner, spouse, etc.) cannot personally be the “middle man” by paying expenses personally or by collecting the rent in their personal account and then forwarding the funds to the IRA. There are essentially three different methods whereby the IRA may be structured to properly collect rent and pay expenses.

First, the IRA may be receiving the income directly and paying the expenses. This method involves a lease between the IRA and the tenant directly. Under this method, the tenant pays rental income to the IRA (e.g. ABC Trust Company FBO Sally Jones IRA) and sends the actual payment to the IRA custodian and the custodian then deposits that income into the respective IRA. If expenses are due, the IRA owner will need to direct the custodian to pay them by completing a written form (e.g. payment authorization letter) and instructing the IRA custodian as to the expenses to be paid from the IRA. There is usually a fee each time an instruction letter is issued to a self directed IRA custodian. This method can be tedious and can be fee intensive and as a result is not the most common way of managing a rental property held by an IRA.

Second, the IRA hires a property manager who receives the rental income to the property and pays the expenses to the property. The property manager cannot be a disqualified person to the IRA owner and the property manager will typically take a percent of the rental income collected as payment for their services. Under this method the IRA enters into an agreement with the property manager and the property manager then enters into leases with respective tenants. The IRA receives rental income minus property expenses and fees charged by the property manager.

Third, many IRA owners with rental property decide to use a structure known as an IRA/LLC. Under the IRA/LLC structure, the IRA invests into a newly created LLC and the IRA’s investment is then the ownership of the LLC. The IRA will invest an amount designated by the IRA owner into the LLC, and then funds are typically deposited into an LLC checking account at a bank selected by the IRA owner.

IRA/LLC Structure for Real Estate

The IRA owner then, as manager of the LLC, signs the contract for the LLC to purchase the real estate. The property should close in the LLC name with funds from the LLC bank account and the LLC then in turn rents the property, receives the income and pays the expenses all from the LLC checking account. The LLC is entirely owned by the IRA and all funds in the LLC checking account must eventually be returned to the IRA when the IRA owner desires to take a distribution.

Regardless of the method used to own and manage the IRA owned rental property, the property cannot be leased to a disqualified person. So, for example, the IRA cannot purchase a property and allow the IRA owner’s son to lease the property as that lease would be a transaction with a disqualified person which results in a prohibited transaction.

In addition to prohibited transactions that are involved in leasing the property to family members, the IRA owner should closely analyze any leasing arrangement to a company where the IRA owner or other disqualified persons are owners of the IRA or company. For example, any lease to a company that is owned 50% or more by the IRA owner or other disqualified persons would constitute a prohibited transaction. IRC § 4975(e)(2)G).

In summary, there are many different ways to manage a rental property owned by your IRA. Make sure you are implementing one of these methods and that you are managing the IRA’s income, expenses, and properties properly.

This article is an excerpt from Mat Sorensen’s book, The Self Directed IRA Handbook.