Tax deductions for real estate agents, in plain language.

What is in the checklist?

Questions, not tax code. Each line asks whether you paid for something — an office, a phone, a licence, a meal with a client — and tells you what counts, what only counts partly, and what to watch. Where the arithmetic is simple, the sheet does it. Where it is not, such as equipment, mileage and the home office, you enter what you paid, and the sheet tells you to ask about the specifics, because the answer depends on your circumstances.

Three tabs: the checklist itself, the things people assume count and do not, and the records to keep so that every line survives a question from a tax agency.

What do real estate agents and brokers paid on commission routinely miss?

• Mileage. The largest deduction most agents have and the one with the least paper behind it.
• Fees taken out before you were paid. Transaction, technology and E&O fees come off the commission statement, never pass through the bank account, and are forgotten.
• The split, claimed twice or not at all. It depends entirely on what the 1099 shows, and nobody checks.
• Closing gifts over the limit. Missed in the other direction: the full cost is claimed when only $25 per person counts.

None of these is exotic. They are missed because they are paid once a year, or land on the personal return instead of the business, or feel too close to personal life to claim. The checklist asks about each one directly.