Real Estate Agents & Brokers
Commission tracking, expense categorization, and GRT compliance for Santa Fe real estate professionals.
The Industry
Real estate agents earn commissions that arrive in unpredictable chunks. You might close three deals in March and see nothing in April. The IRS still expects quarterly estimated tax payments based on income you haven’t earned yet. Your brokerage takes a split, referral fees go in and out, and transaction fees get deducted before you see a dollar. Without proper tracking, most agents don’t know what they actually kept until tax time.
Then there’s the expense side. Driving to showings, listing appointments, inspections. Marketing costs for photography, staging, signage, online ads. MLS dues, lockbox fees, continuing education, client gifts. All of it deductible. Most of it untracked. And in New Mexico, Gross Receipts Tax applies to commission income, adding a compliance requirement that agents in other states don’t deal with.
Who This Covers
Who This Covers
Licensed real estate agents, associate brokers, and qualifying brokers throughout Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico. Whether you work under a brokerage or run your own operation, the bookkeeping fundamentals are similar.
What Makes It Complex
What Makes It Complex
Commission income timing that doesn’t match expense timing. Brokerage splits, referral fees, and transaction charges deducted from each closing. Vehicle mileage across hundreds of showings per year. Marketing expenses scattered across personal and business accounts. GRT filing requirements unique to New Mexico that most bookkeepers don’t understand.
What We Handle
Monthly bookkeeping for commission income means tracking deposits from closings and reconciling them against your commission statements. Every split, referral fee, and transaction charge gets recorded so you see exactly what you kept from each deal. Expenses get categorized properly throughout the year so tax time doesn’t require reconstructing twelve months of transactions from memory and bank statements.
New Mexico’s Gross Receipts Tax applies to real estate commissions. Depending on your volume, returns are due monthly or quarterly. We handle GRT return preparation and filing so you stay compliant without adding another task to your plate. Quarterly estimated taxes get calculated based on your actual commission patterns, adjusted as the year progresses rather than locked to last year’s income.
Commission and Income Tracking
Commission and Income Tracking
Each closing tracked with gross commission, brokerage split, referral fees paid or received, and net income. Bank deposits reconciled against closing statements to catch discrepancies. Income categorized by listing type or price range if you want visibility into where your profitable deals actually come from.
Expense Categorization and GRT Compliance
Expense Categorization and GRT Compliance
Vehicle mileage logged and calculated for tax deductions. Marketing, MLS fees, continuing education, and technology expenses tracked and categorized. GRT returns prepared and filed on schedule. Quarterly estimated taxes calculated based on current year income patterns rather than guesswork.
What Goes Wrong
The biggest issue is missed deductions. Real estate agents accumulate vehicle mileage showing properties, driving to listings, attending inspections, meeting clients for coffee. Without a system to track it, thousands of dollars in deductions disappear. Marketing expenses end up on personal credit cards and never get categorized. Association dues, lockbox fees, transaction coordinator costs, client appreciation gifts. All deductible. All easily forgotten when tax time arrives.
GRT compliance trips people up too. Miss a filing deadline and penalties accumulate. File incorrectly and you’re either overpaying or creating problems for yourself later. Quarterly estimated taxes become guesswork when your income varies wildly month to month. You either overpay significantly to be safe or underpay and face penalties in April. Neither approach is based on anything resembling your actual numbers.
Missed Deductions
Missed Deductions
Mileage not tracked adds up to thousands in lost deductions over a year. Marketing expenses paid with personal cards never get categorized as business expenses. Continuing education, professional dues, and technology subscriptions forgotten at tax time. Home office deduction never calculated even though you work from home constantly.
Tax and Compliance Issues
Tax and Compliance Issues
GRT returns filed late trigger penalties that eat into your income. Quarterly estimates based on last year’s income instead of current patterns cause cash flow problems. Commission statements not reconciled against bank deposits so discrepancies go unnoticed. Tax returns prepared from incomplete records leaving money on the table.
What Changes
You see exactly what each closing nets you after splits, fees, and expenses. Historical data shows which listing types and price ranges actually make money when you factor in marketing costs and time invested. Quarterly estimates match your actual income pattern instead of being a number you hope is close enough. You stop the April scramble of reconstructing a year’s worth of expenses from memory.
GRT returns get filed on time every period. Tax preparation becomes straightforward because everything is categorized and reconciled throughout the year. Your CPA gets clean books instead of a pile of statements to sort through. You stop leaving deductions on the table because mileage is tracked, marketing expenses are categorized, and every deductible dollar is captured before it gets forgotten.
Financial Clarity
Financial Clarity
Net income visible by closing with all fees and splits accounted for. Expense trends clear month over month showing where your money actually goes. Annual tax preparation takes hours instead of days because the work happened throughout the year. Deductions captured in real time rather than reconstructed in March.
Compliance and Tax Strategy
Compliance and Tax Strategy
GRT filed on schedule with accurate reporting every period. Quarterly estimates adjusted as your income changes rather than fixed to outdated numbers. Mileage deduction maximized through proper tracking systems. Tax returns prepared with complete documentation so nothing gets missed and nothing looks questionable.
Santa Fe's Small Business Bookkeeper
The Next Step:
A Quick Conversation
Tell us about your business and what you're dealing with. We'll listen, ask a few questions, and give you a straightforward quote.
