For many small business owners, finding tax deductions isn’t all that difficult, but there are plenty of ways you can record expenses, tax deductions, and costs in ways that will improve your bottom line when it comes time for tax season.  If you’re a realtor with other agents working with you, then there are likely several ways that you can either increase expenses in your books or find other tax incentives.

Now that we’re on the cusp of America’s Tax Day 2025, let’s take a deeper dive into ways that you can take advantage of these realtor-friendly tax deductions.

Home Office

One of the biggest tax incentives available to self-employed people is the home office deduction.  In all likelihood, both you and any agents that work for you will do a significant amount (if not all) of your work primarily from a home office.  Home office deductions are calculated based on a percentage of the square footage you use for your home office (in its simplest form).

Naturally, you’ll need to itemize your tax return to capitalize on this feature of the United States Tax Code, but chances are, you’re already doing that anyway if you file as a sole proprietor or LLC.

Commissions Paid

If you have other agents working for you, then there’s a good chance you’re paying them commissions from the overarching business structure.  While commissions paid aren’t necessarily a true tax deduction, they are a 100% expense.  In other words, paying commissions to your agents can be fully expensed on your profit and loss statement, therefore, decreasing your overall profit.

You’re probably already recording simple expenses that are required for your office or business to function, but a large chunk of your cash outflows are undoubtedly going to your agents for all of their hard work too.  Certainly don’t overlook this expense as it will decrease your overall tax burden.

Desk Fees

Desk fees are fully deductible as part of your expenses, and if you’re working under a franchise or if you’re an agent working under a broker, then you can really cash in on expensing your desk fees as part of your business’s profits and losses.  Bear in mind, however, that if you choose to deduct desk fees, you won’t be eligible for the home office deduction.  As a result, it’s worth calculating which one is most beneficial to you and creates the largest net deduction.

Training and Professional Education

If you’re keeping up with current matters in the real estate market or generally trying to improve yourself through classes, coursework, conferences, or other means of education, then you can fully deduct these expenses as part of your tax return.  Even if your training or education is done at home in a virtual format, if you pay for it, then you can 100% deduct it!

Marketing, Advertising, and Promotion

Another sometimes overlooked business expense is marketing, advertising, and promotion of your business, your listings, and even social media posts.  As a normal business expense, the IRS considers these expenses to be part of regular business operations and are 100% deductible.  Furthermore, if you’re looking at finding ways to increase expenses as a means to reduce your overall taxable burden, then look into promoting your business or boosting posts on Facebook or Instagram.

Social media ads and promoted posts are easy ways to get interactions with your prospective clients, are easily budgeted, and likely give you much more value for what you spend than other means of online or traditional marketing.