UBIT on Assignment Fees

Question:

In the attached article you discuss assignment fees within an IRA. Client is a HomeVestors franchisee in the business of real estate. Do you think doing a contract assignment within a Solo 401(k) would be subject to UBIT? I’m worried that his status of being in the business of real estate could subject his other activities to taxation.

Answer:

You didn’t attach the article, but you’re right the whole assignment issue, or even buy, fix and flip, is lot trickier for Homevestor franchisees and other real estate dealers. The easiest way to think about when UBIT attaches is to think of how that income would be taxed if reported outside of the IRA or 401(k) context. For a Homevestor franchisee it’s pretty easy to see where the problem might be, since a house is merely inventory to be sold to its customers in the ordinary course of business- the very definition of Unrelated Business Income in this context. Another potential challenge for a client like that is that there could be an excess contribution or even a prohibited transaction issue (the PT issue because of possibly providing services to their plans) when they are using their company’s resources to find the deals they invest in. Generally you have a better argument that it was purely an investment if a different Homevestor franchisee happens to find the deal if they will invest through their retirement account. Added to this is the fact that a 401(k) plan has a much higher chance of audit and caution is warranted in the investment selection within a Homevestor franchisee’s plan. I did have one real estate dealer who got his plan audited a few years ago and although they let him get away with some flipping in his plan they did charge him for some UBIT. In this case and many others the old adage that piglets get fed but hogs get slaughtered applies – you may get away with some such activity, but the more you do, especially if that’s your only type of investment activity, and the more money you have for the auditor to be jealous of, the more chance you have for a negative result of some sort. That’s the best I can do for a Sunday afternoon. I hope it makes some sense. There are times when it’s a lot more fun to only provide education as opposed to scary things like tax, legal or investment advice!

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