• Tax advantages for real estate agentsA young woman holding a pen, doing her taxes image by Christopher Meder from Fotolia.com
  
  Since most real estate professionals operate their businesses as sole proprietorships and are treated as self-employed persons for federal tax purposes, they may take ordinary and necessary tax deductions that may save them hundreds or thousands of dollars, according to IRS.gov. As a business owner, a real estate professional enjoys tax advantages not available to employees or individuals who only dabble in real estate investments.
  
  

Deductions for Business Expenses

• Customary business deductionstax time image by Tom Oliveira from Fotolia.com
  
  Advertising expenses, professional fees to maintain a license, educational seminars to increase sales skills, and automobile expenses are just some of the customary deductions real estate professionals are allowed. Additional business expenses include bank charges, website costs, clerical expenses, client gifts, courier and mail service, referral fees paid, film processing, keys, lock boxes, map books, office expenses, 50 percent of business meals, computer hardware and software, Internet service, publications, home office, furniture and equipment.
  
  

Quarterly Taxes

• Pay your taxes every quarter.tax defined image by Christopher Walker from Fotolia.com
  
  Commission income does not include withheld taxes. A real estate professional must pay quarterly taxes based on their actual income, according to IRS.gov. Federal quarterly taxes are due on April 15, June 15, September 15 and January 15 of each year. State income tax filing deadlines may differ. Since taxes are paid quarterly rather than weekly or bi-monthly, a real estate professional could invest the taxes in an interest bearing account until payments are due to further benefit from this tax advantage.
  
  

Self-Employment Tax Credit

• Tax credit for the self-employedcredit 3d sign image by onlinebewerbung.de from Fotolia.com
  
  Self-employment tax (SE tax) is a Social Security and Medicare tax for individuals who work for themselves, according to IRS.gov. Employers and employees share the cost of Social Security and Medicare taxes. However, because a real estate professional pays both the employer and employee portion of Social Security and Medicare taxes, they can deduct half of the self-employment tax in the process of arriving at their adjusted gross income.
  
  

Exemption from Passive Loss

• Rental income and losses are deductibleprofit/loss image by Warren Millar from Fotolia.com
  
  Real estate professionals who own and manage their own rental properties may deduct expenses over the standard $25,000 limit and 100 percent of their rental property tax losses from their income, according to the Internal Revenue Code 469(c)(7). Additionally, an exemption from passive loss rules apply to real estate professionals who spend more than 750 hours a year in real property trade or business in which they earn more than half of their income from properties they personally manage.
  
  

SEP IRA

• Increased tax-deferred retirement savingsready for retirement image by Pix by Marti from Fotolia.com
  
  As a self-employed business owner, a real estate professional may open a SEP IRA and contribute up to $49,000 a year toward retirement, according to Sepira.com. Unlike a traditional or ROTH IRA, a SEP IRA allows for a real estate professional to contribute a greater portion of his earnings for retirement and deduct a greater portion of his gross income from federal and state taxes. The annual savings can amount to thousands of tax-deferred dollars.