Material Participation REPS Log

Material Participation REPS Log

By: Jason Watson / Posted Wednesday, February 26, 2025
Posted By: Jason Watson

Key Takeaways

  • Time logs must be kept in real-time to meet IRS “contemporaneous” standards.
  • Record all time spent on rental activities, including work done by others, to show completeness.
  • Logs must appear credible and reasonable — avoid inflated or unrealistic hour claims.
  • Support your log with corroborating evidence (receipts, bank records, third-party proof).
  • A written log isn’t always required if you can prove participation by other credible means, but it’s safest to keep one.
  • REPSLog is a tool for tracking hours for Real Estate Professional Status (REPS) or Short-
  • Term Rental (STR) purposes.
  • Three ways to prove material participation:
    • 500 hours;
    • 100 hours and more than anyone else;
    • substantially all hours were yours.
  • WCG CPAs recommend practical, ethical strategies over complex, unnecessary schemes.
  • Complimentary 20-minute consultations available to assess fit and planning needs.

There is a ton of chatter about time trackers and REPS logs including STR hours. Spreadsheets with dropdowns, conditional formatting, and built-in pivot tables. Neat. WCG CPAs & Advisors has a solution! But first, so much effort is spent on the right data that people lose sight of four fundamentals-

Your time log must be done in real-time, or what the IRS considers contemporaneous. This is usually not a huge deal but it is surprising how many court cases mention that the records were not kept in real-time.

Next, your time log must highlight not just your time, what you did and the location, it must also contain the time spent by others on your rental activities. This demonstrates your exhaustiveness or completeness in recording all time spent, not just yours.

Next, your time log must appear credible. To support credibility, you will likely need to recall details surrounding the time or moments spent. You will also need to be reasonable. In Escalante v. Commissioner, Tax Court Summary Opinion 2015-47, the rental property owner listed hundreds of hours for writing checks and reviewing mortgage statements. The Tax Court considered how long it would take them to write their own checks based on their own experience of daily life.

Finally, your time log must be corroborated with other transactions or by disinterested third parties. You claim that you spent 6 hours replacing a toilet, and you also demonstrate two separate trips to Lowe’s with receipts. The first is the toilet. The second has all the crud that you forget to get the first time. Perfect! However, in Pourmirzaie v. Commissioner, Tax Court Memo 2018-26, the rental property owner’s time log showed her being at the rentals every single Saturday performing “weekly cleaning and repairing” work. Unfortunately, her bank and credit card statements showed purchases in other locations besides her rental properties. Oops.

WCG Recommends REPSLog

There are several time tracker apps, Excel templates and the like. We routinely get asked two questions- who is your cost seg referral, and how should we track our time for real estate professional status or short-term rental loophole? The first one is easy- we continue to recommend Andy and his team at CostSegEZ.com.

For time tracking, whether REPS or STR, we have partnered with REPSLog.

Don’t let the title fool you- while tracking time for REPS is a bit more exhaustive given the 750 hours in real estate activities requirement in addition to material participation in the rental activities, it can easily track time for STR loophole needs (average guest stay of 7 days or less + material participation). As a refresher, there are 3 primary ways to achieve material

  • 500 hours
  • 100 hours and more than anyone else
  • substantially all hours (were your hours)

In speaking to the founders of REPSLog recently, they are rolling out STR capabilities within their app as well.

REPSLog App

Looking to save on taxes? Claiming REPS or unlocking the STR Loophole with the IRS could be your key!

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Time Log Corroboration

As mentioned above in fundamental #4, your STR or REPS log must be corroborated. This is akin to a mileage log. It is a common misconception that just a mileage log is all you need to defend your automobile expenses. Not true. You also need corroboration such as service receipts from your dealership or Jiffy Lube supporting beginning and ending odometer reads.

Is a time log always required? No. Treasury Regulations Section 1.469-5T(f)(4) reads-

Is this suggesting that a written log is not needed if participation can be established by other means? Yes. But be careful!

Here is a win for the real estate investor. In Birdsong v. Commissioner, Tax Court Memo 2018-148, the taxpayers did not maintain contemporaneous records but testified credibly to their activities. Here is a blurb from the ruling-

Petitioners testified credibly and in detail about petitioner wife’s active and extensive management of their rental properties. Furthermore, petitioners presented detailed spreadsheets that reflected petitioner wife’s rental management activities exceeded the 750-hour requirement. We find petitioners’ narrative summary and thorough time logs convincing because petitioners owned numerous rental units that petitioner wife operated alone. See Hailstock v. Commissioner, (holding that the taxpayer’s credible testimony regarding time spent operating multiple properties alone satisfied the section 469(c)(2) requirements). Petitioners’ testimony is further buttressed by petitioner wife’s thorough time-keeping as well as the receipts and invoices petitioner wife produced to corroborate her time logs.

On the basis of petitioners’ testimony and the record as a whole, we conclude that petitioner wife, pursuant to section 469(c), materially participated and is a real estate professional. Accordingly, petitioners’ loss attributable to their rental real estate is not limited by the passive activity loss rules of section 469.

But the Tax Court also gave a little spanking in a footnote-

Although we caution petitioner wife to construct more strictly contemporaneous time logs for her future endeavors, we find her credible testimony and time logs to be a “reasonable means” of proof. See sec. 1.469-5T(f)(4), Temporary Income Tax Regs., 53 Fed. Reg. 5727 (Feb. 25, 1988).

Take the win! At the risk of de-emphasizing time logs, recall that in Hailstock v. Commissioner, Tax Court Memo 2016-146, the rental property owner did not keep a time log with specific hours. The Tax Court accepted her narrative and stated “we find petitioner’s narrative summary convincing because she owned numerous rental properties and conducted her business as a “one-man operation” without being otherwise employed.”

Keep a time log please! Use a time tracker like REPSLog.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does the IRS require contemporaneous time logs?

The IRS wants proof that your time records were created as you worked, not after the fact. This makes them more reliable and harder to dispute. Contemporaneous logs demonstrate that your hours are accurate and weren’t inflated to meet Real Estate Professional Status (REPS) or Short-Term Rental (STR) requirements.

What should be included in a REPS or STR time log?

Your log should record all time spent on rental activities, including:

  • Property management tasks
  • Tenant communication
  • Repairs, maintenance, and inspections
  • Time spent by you and, if applicable, others helping you

Each entry should have the date, hours worked, and a short description of the activity.

How do I make my time log credible to the IRS or Tax Court?

Keep entries reasonable, consistent, and detailed. Avoid claiming hours that seem inflated or unrelated. Support your log with receipts, invoices, emails, or bank records that align with the dates and tasks you recorded.

What counts as corroborating evidence for a time log?

Documents such as bank statements, contractor invoices, receipts, emails, and text messages can all back up your log. If you note in your log that you spent three hours buying materials for a repair, the receipt for that day helps verify your entry.

Do I need a written log if I can testify about my hours?

Although testimony can sometimes work, it’s risky. A written log is the safest way to show you meet REPS or STR requirements. Without it, you may have a harder time convincing the IRS or Tax Court.

What is REPSLog, and why use it?

REPSLog is a specialized tracking tool designed to make time logging easier and more accurate for REPS and STR taxpayers. It creates a clean, detailed record that stands up better to IRS scrutiny than ad-hoc notes or spreadsheets.

How can I qualify for material participation in rental activities?

You can meet IRS material participation tests in several ways, but the most common are:
500 hours on the activity, or 100 hours and more than anyone else worked, or
Substantially all the hours spent on the activity were yours.

Who does WCG CPAs recommend for cost segregation studies?

WCG CPAs recommend Scarpello Consulting, known for performing high-quality cost segregation studies that help rental property owners optimize depreciation deductions.

What services does WCG CPAs offer beyond tax returns?

WCG CPAs provide tax planning, advisory, and compliance services, focusing on practical, ethical strategies rather than over-engineered or risky tax schemes. They help clients with REPS qualification, STR planning, and more.

How can I schedule a discovery meeting or consultation?

You can schedule a complimentary 20-minute consultation to review your goals and see if WCG is a good fit. A scheduling link is provided in the update for easy booking.

Getting Started with WCG

Learn about important tax deadlines, document checklists and due dates, and other essential tax return information.

Jason Watson, CPA is a Partner and the CEO of WCG CPAs & Advisors, a boutique consultation and tax preparation CPA firm located in Colorado, and is the author of Taxpayer’s Comprehensive Guide on LLC’s and S Corps and I Just Got a Rental, What Do I Do? which are available online and from mostly average retailers.

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