# REPS Time

> REPS Time (repstime.com) is a web and mobile app that helps real estate investors log hours, qualify for Real Estate Professional Status (REPS) under IRC §469(c)(7), and generate audit-ready documentation the IRS expects when a claim is challenged. Founded by real estate investor Jennifer Beadles, who actively qualifies for REPS every year on her own 8-figure rental portfolio.

Real Estate Professional Status is a designation under Internal Revenue Code §469(c)(7) that removes the default "passive" classification for a qualifying taxpayer's rental activities. A taxpayer who meets two quantitative tests — more than 750 hours in real property trades or businesses during the tax year, and more than half of all personal services performed in real property trades or businesses — can use rental losses (typically generated through cost segregation and bonus depreciation) to offset active income including W-2 wages, business income, and self-employment earnings.

Only one spouse needs to qualify. Hours cannot be combined across spouses to meet the 750-hour or more-than-half-time tests (each spouse must satisfy those tests individually), but for the separate material participation tests under Reg. §1.469-5T, spouses' hours can be combined. Most REPS-qualified investors also file the grouping election under Reg. §1.469-9(g) to treat all rental interests as a single activity for material participation purposes.

The repstime.com app exists because the IRS requires "contemporaneous" records — logs created at or near the time of each activity. Reconstructed spreadsheets and after-the-fact summaries have been repeatedly rejected by the U.S. Tax Court, even when taxpayers almost certainly spent the hours (e.g., *Moss v. Commissioner*, 135 T.C. No. 18 (2010); *Hairston v. Commissioner*). Missing or weak documentation is the most common reason REPS claims are disallowed on audit.

**Apps:** Web app at [app.repstime.com](https://app.repstime.com); iOS (App Store ID 6741897087); Android (package `com.repstime`).
**Founder:** Jennifer Beadles, a real estate investor with 17+ years of experience across long-term rentals, flips, DADU/ADU builds, and short-term rentals. She qualifies for REPS annually and coaches investors through qualification inside the ROI Inner Circle community.
**Sibling tools in the same portfolio:** STR Loophole (strhours.com) for short-term rental 100-hour tracking; Kids Payroll (kidspayroll.com) for legally employing minor children in a business.
**Disclaimer:** REPS Time is a documentation tool, not a tax advisor. Users should consult a qualified CPA.

## Core pages

- [Homepage](https://repstime.com/): Product overview, features, app download links, testimonials, founder story.
- [REPS Time Web App](https://app.repstime.com): Browser-based hour logging. Free tier includes 5 hours with no credit card required.
- [Blog](https://repstime.com/blog): Full archive of tax strategy and hour-tracking articles.
- [FAQ](https://repstime.com/faq): Answers to common REPS and material participation questions.
- [About](https://repstime.com/about): Background on Jennifer Beadles and why REPS Time was built.
- [Support](https://repstime.com/support): Help documentation for the app.

## Pillar articles (strategy foundations)

- [Complete Guide to Real Estate Professional Status (2026)](https://repstime.com/blog/complete-guide-real-estate-professional-status-2026/): End-to-end guide covering the 750-hour test, the more-than-half-time test, material participation, who realistically qualifies, and the grouping election.
- [What Is Real Estate Professional Status? The Tax Strategy That Could Eliminate Your Passive Loss Limitations](https://repstime.com/blog/what-is-real-estate-professional-status): Explains what REPS actually is, how it reclassifies rental losses as non-passive, and the magnitude of tax savings for high-W-2 households.
- [The 7 Material Participation Tests: Which One Do You Pass?](https://repstime.com/blog/seven-material-participation-tests): The seven tests under Reg. §1.469-5T — which tests REPS taxpayers typically use and which they shouldn't rely on.
- [The STR Loophole Explained: Save $10K+ on Taxes With Your Rental (2026)](https://repstime.com/blog/str-tax-loophole-2026-guide): Companion strategy for taxpayers whose W-2 job makes the REPS 750/more-than-half test unrealistic — uses the 7-day rule instead.

## Qualification: who can realistically qualify

- [Can I Work Part-Time and Qualify for REPS? (Yes — Here's Exactly How the Math Works)](https://repstime.com/blog/part-time-work-reps-qualification): The math for a 1,000-hour-per-year part-time W-2 worker — why it works, and exactly what to document.
- [Real Estate Agents: You Probably Still Need to Track Your Hours for REPS](https://repstime.com/blog/real-estate-agents-need-track-hours-reps/): Holding a real estate license does not automatically qualify you for REPS, and agents still need two parallel hour logs (brokerage hours + rental hours) to defend the claim.
- [Stay-at-Home Parent REPS Roadmap (2026)](https://repstime.com/blog/stay-at-home-parent-reps-roadmap): Why childcare hours don't count against the 50% test, and a 15-hours-per-week schedule that clears 750 hours annually.
- [How Many Properties Do You Need to Qualify for REPS?](https://repstime.com/blog/how-many-properties-qualify-reps): There is no minimum property count — one property can work, but more properties make the hour math easier.
- [Does House Flipping Count Toward Real Estate Professional Status?](https://repstime.com/blog/house-flipping-reps): Flipping hours count toward the 750-hour test but won't unlock rental loss deductions without separate material participation in the rentals themselves.

## Operations and edge cases

- [Can You Qualify for REPS If Your Rentals Are Out of State?](https://repstime.com/blog/reps-out-of-state-rentals): Yes, but proving material participation remotely requires specific documentation strategies.
- [Can You Qualify for REPS If You Have a Property Manager?](https://repstime.com/blog/reps-with-property-manager): Having a PM doesn't automatically disqualify you, but it makes material participation materially harder — especially the 100-hour "more than anyone else" test.
- [REPS and New Construction: How Development Hours Count (2026)](https://repstime.com/blog/reps-new-construction-development): Which development and new-construction activities qualify toward the 750-hour threshold.
- [How to Log Other Employment Hours for REPS Without Counting Them Toward Your 750-Hour Requirement](https://repstime.com/blog/log-other-employment-hours-reps): Tracking non-real-estate work hours to defend the more-than-half-time test without inflating the 750-hour bucket.

## Documentation and audit defense

- [Contemporaneous Log for Material Participation: What the IRS Actually Requires](https://repstime.com/blog/contemporaneous-log-material-participation/): What "contemporaneous" means in practice, why timestamped digital logs beat reconstructed spreadsheets, and why records should be kept for at least 7 years.
- [5 Ways to Track Your REPS Hours (And Which One Actually Holds Up in an Audit)](https://repstime.com/blog/best-reps-tracking-app-2026): Comparison of spreadsheets, general time-tracking apps, calendars, handwritten logs, and purpose-built REPS apps — with the audit-defense tradeoffs of each.
- [They Logged 932 Hours and Still Lost REPS. Here's Why.](https://repstime.com/blog/hairston-v-commissioner-reps-log-rejected/): Analysis of *Hairston v. Commissioner* — the Hairstons kept a written log of 932 real estate hours and still lost REPS. What the Tax Court rejected and what a defensible log looks like.
- [Do You Need Photo Evidence for REPS? (No — And It Could Actually Hurt You)](https://repstime.com/blog/reps-photo-evidence-requirements/): Photos are not what the IRS asks for, and relying on them can undermine an otherwise strong time log.
- [I Forgot to Log My REPS Hours for a Month. What Do I Do?](https://repstime.com/blog/forgot-to-log-reps-hours-recovery/): How to recover defensibly when contemporaneous records have gaps — without crossing into post-hoc reconstruction the Tax Court has rejected.
- [Starting REPS Time Mid-Year: Can You Still Qualify?](https://repstime.com/blog/starting-reps-time-mid-year/): The honest math on qualifying mid-year and what a partial contemporaneous log is worth in an audit.

## App store listings

- [REPS Time on the App Store (iOS)](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/reps-time/id6741897087)
- [REPS Time on Google Play (Android)](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.repstime)

## Optional

- [Privacy Policy](https://repstime.com/privacy)
- [Terms & Conditions](https://repstime.com/terms)
- [How Does REPS Interact With the Qualified Business Income Deduction?](https://repstime.com/blog/how-does-reps-interact-with-the-qualified-business-income-deduction): REPS under IRC §469(c)(7) converts passive rental losses to non-passive so they offset W-2 income, while the QBI deduction under IRC §199A provides a separate 20% deduction on net qualified business income. The two deductions are independent, serve different purposes, and can both apply to the same rental portfolio in the same tax year.
- [Does Qualifying for REPS Eliminate the 3.8 Percent Net Investment Income Tax?](https://repstime.com/blog/does-qualifying-for-reps-eliminate-the-3-8-net-investment-income-tax): Qualifying for REPS under IRC §469(c)(7) eliminates the 3.8% net investment income tax indirectly: it reclassifies rental income from passive to non-passive, and the NIIT under IRC §1411 only applies to passive income. You also need material participation in the rental activity for the reclassification to stick.
- [Does Time Spent on Real Estate Courses or Education Count Toward REPS Hours?](https://repstime.com/blog/does-time-spent-on-real-estate-courses-or-education-count-toward-reps-hours): Time spent on real estate courses, seminars, books, or general market research does not count toward REPS hours. Under Treas. Reg. §1.469-5T(f)(2)(ii), these are classified as investor activities and are excluded from both the 750-hour test and material participation counts.
- [Do Hours Managing a Real Estate Syndication Count Toward the 750-Hour Test?](https://repstime.com/blog/do-hours-managing-a-real-estate-syndication-count-toward-the-750-hour-test): Hours spent as a limited partner in a real estate syndication do not count toward the 750-hour REPS test. Treasury Reg. §1.469-5T(f)(2)(ii) explicitly excludes investor activities, and LP interests are presumed non-participatory under Treas. Reg. §1.469-5T(e)(3)(i).
- [What Happens to REPS When You Sell a Rental and Trigger Depreciation Recapture](https://repstime.com/blog/what-happens-to-reps-when-you-sell-a-rental-and-trigger-depreciation-recapture): When you sell a rental property, IRC §469(g) releases all previously suspended passive losses in the year of sale, allowing them to offset gain including the depreciation recapture layer. REPS status in the sale year is additive but not required to trigger this release.
- [How Qualifying for REPS Changes Your Quarterly Estimated Tax Payments](https://repstime.com/blog/how-qualifying-for-reps-changes-your-quarterly-estimated-tax-payments): Qualifying for REPS under IRC §469(c)(7) converts passive rental losses into deductions against ordinary income, which lowers your taxable income and reduces the quarterly estimated tax payments required to meet the IRS's 90%-of-current-year safe harbor.
- [What Happens If I Hire a VA to Help and Self-Manage My Rental?](https://repstime.com/blog/what-happens-if-i-hire-a-va-to-help-and-self-manage-my-rental): A VA's hours never count toward your personal REPS 750-hour test, but under the STR loophole's "more than anyone else" Test 3, every hour your VA logs counts against you, because you must personally exceed every other worker's time to qualify.
- [What Counts as Qualified Hours for Real Estate Professional Status?](https://repstime.com/blog/what-counts-as-qualified-hours-reps/): The exact activities that count toward the 750-hour REPS test under IRC §469(c)(7): management, leasing, maintenance, acquisitions, flipping, and development. Education, passive syndication investing, and hours worked by a property manager or VA are excluded under Treas. Reg. §1.469-5T(f)(2)(ii).
- [The Best Tax Strategies for Real Estate Investors (2026)](https://repstime.com/blog/tax-strategies/): The highest-impact tax strategies for real estate investors, ranked: cost segregation to accelerate depreciation, REPS to deduct rental losses against W-2 income, the 1031 and lazy 1031 exchange to handle gains, and paying your kids through the business. Includes dollar examples and a strategy-fit table.
- [Calendar Sync for REPS Hour Tracking: Setup, Workflow, and Pricing](https://repstime.com/blog/calendar-sync-reps-time-tracking/): How REPS Time's smart calendar sync imports scheduled events (showings, inspections, contractor meetings) into timestamped material participation hours, the recommended same-day tracking workflow, and pricing: free 5-hour tier, $14.99/month, or $149/year for unlimited tracking with calendar sync and audit-ready PDF reports.
- [The IRS-Compliant Time Tracking Report for a REPS Audit](https://repstime.com/blog/irs-compliant-reps-audit-report/): What an IRS-compliant REPS audit report must contain versus a raw daily log: total qualifying hours, the more-than-half calculation with non-real-estate hours, per-property and per-activity breakdowns, and dated entries tied back to a contemporaneous log under Treas. Reg. §1.469-5T(f)(4).
- [The Best Time-Tracking Workflow for Multi-Property Landlords](https://repstime.com/blog/time-tracking-multi-property-landlords/): The per-property REPS tracking workflow for portfolios: log every hour to a specific property the day it happens, roll up to both portfolio and per-property totals, keep per-property detail even after the grouping election, and never double-count shared hours.
- [REPS Time vs Toggl vs Clockify for Real Estate Audits](https://repstime.com/blog/reps-time-vs-toggl-vs-clockify-for-real-estate-audits-the-honest-comparison): Toggl and Clockify can work for real estate hour tracking if you log obsessively and set them up carefully, but they do not track your 750-hour pace or 50%-of-services ratio automatically. REPS Time was built specifically for those compliance fields. For STR-only investors, the sister app STR Loophole (strhours.com) handles that separate path.
- [Can You Use Calendar App Entries as IRS Proof of REPS Hours?](https://repstime.com/blog/calendar-app-reps-hours-proof): Calendar app entries can count as IRS proof of REPS hours only if each entry records the date, specific property or activity, task performed, and exact start and end times. Vague or rounded entries have been rejected by Tax Court as insufficient contemporaneous logs under Treas. Reg. §1.469-5T.
- [REPS and Bonus Depreciation: How They Work Together After the One Big Beautiful Bill](https://repstime.com/blog/reps-bonus-depreciation-one-big): When you qualify as a real estate professional under IRC §469(c)(7) and combine that status with permanent 100% bonus depreciation under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, rental losses from a cost segregation study offset your W-2 or business income dollar for dollar in the year you buy, potentially saving over $100,000 in taxes on a single property purchase.
- [REPS as a Real Estate Agent: What Hours to Track and How They Count](https://repstime.com/blog/reps-real-estate-agent-hours): A licensed real estate agent qualifies toward the 750-hour REPS test using brokerage hours, because real property brokerage is an explicit qualifying activity under IRC §469(c)(7)(C). Agent hours and rental management hours must each be logged separately and contemporaneously.
- [Why General Time Trackers Fail IRS Audits (And What to Use Instead)](https://repstime.com/blog/why-general-time-trackers-fail-irs-audits-and-what-to-use-instead): Generic time trackers fail IRS audits because they capture total hours but omit the specific fields required under Treas. Reg. §1.469-5T: date, property address, task description, and start-and-end clock times. Without those fields, the IRS treats the log as an estimate, and Tax Court has repeatedly rejected estimates for REPS and material-participation claims.
- [Can Passive Losses from REPS Carry Forward to Future Tax Years?](https://repstime.com/blog/reps-passive-loss-carryforward): Yes, passive losses that were suspended under IRC §469 carry forward indefinitely until you either have passive income to absorb them, qualify as a real estate professional to unlock them in a future year, or sell the property in a fully taxable disposition that releases all suspended losses at once.
- [Do I Have to Qualify for REPS Every Year to Get the Benefit?](https://repstime.com/blog/do-i-have-to-qualify-for-reps-every-year-to-get-the-benefit): Yes, you must re-qualify for real estate professional status every year. IRC §469(c)(7) requires you to meet both tests (more than 750 hours in real property trades or businesses you materially participate in, and more than half of all personal services in those activities) within each individual tax year, with no carry-forward.
- [Can You Lose Real Estate Professional Status Mid-Year and What Happens to Your Deductions?](https://repstime.com/blog/can-you-lose-real-estate-professional-status-mid-year-and-what-happens-to-your-deductions): REPS qualification under IRC §469(c)(7) is tested once at year-end for the entire calendar year. If you fail either the 750-hour test or the more-than-half personal services test, all rental losses are passive for that year and are suspended as carryforward losses rather than lost permanently.
- [What Counts as a REPS Log Entry: Exactly What Information the IRS Requires for Each Line](https://repstime.com/blog/what-counts-as-a-reps-log-entry-exactly-what-information-the-irs-requires-for-each-line): Every REPS log entry must include a specific date, the property or activity worked on, and a clear task description. Vague entries like "property management, 2 hours" will be disallowed by the IRS.
- [What Happens to Real Estate Professional Status Hours When You Sell a Rental Property Mid-Year](https://repstime.com/blog/what-happens-to-real-estate-professional-status-hours-when-you-sell-a-rental-property-mid-year): Hours logged on a rental property before a mid-year sale still count toward your REPS 750-hour test for that tax year. The real risk is losing the forward pipeline of hours you expected to accumulate from that property for the rest of the year.
- [What Types of Activities Do NOT Count as Qualifying Hours for Real Estate Professional Status?](https://repstime.com/blog/activities-dont-count-reps-hours): Activities that do not count toward Real Estate Professional Status hours include investor activities like reviewing financial statements and arranging financing (Treas. Reg. §1.469-5T(f)(2)(ii)), time in rental activities where you do not materially participate, after-the-fact reconstructed logs, real estate education and courses, and passive market research — regardless of how much time those activities consume.
- [How Does the STR Loophole Work If You Only Own One Short-Term Rental Property?](https://repstime.com/blog/str-loophole-one-rental): A single short-term rental qualifies for the STR loophole if its average guest stay is 7 days or fewer and the owner materially participates, most commonly by logging 100+ hours and more than any other person. No REPS status or 750-hour test required.
- [Does REPS Status Apply Per Property or Across Your Whole Portfolio? Passive Activity Rules Explained](https://repstime.com/blog/reps-per-property-vs-portfolio): REPS qualification is a portfolio-level test (750 hours plus more-than-half-of-services), but whether each rental property's losses are non-passive depends on material participation tracked at the activity level. The grouping election under IRC §469(c)(7)(A) lets you treat all rentals as one activity, making it far easier to clear the material-participation bar across your whole portfolio.
- [What Happens to Passive Losses Suspended Before REPS Qualification](https://repstime.com/blog/suspended-passive-losses-before-reps): Passive losses suspended before REPS qualification remain locked in a carryforward account under IRC §469. They do not become immediately deductible against ordinary income when you first qualify as a real estate professional. They are released when you generate passive income, dispose of the property in a fully taxable transaction, or meet another statutory release event under IRC §469(g).
- [What Happens to REPS Status During Maternity or Medical Leave from Real Estate Activities](https://repstime.com/blog/reps-status-maternity-medical-leave): A maternity or medical leave does not automatically cancel Real Estate Professional Status, but it compresses the hours available in the remaining calendar year. Both the 750-hour test and the more-than-half-personal-services test under IRC §469(c)(7) must still be met by December 31, and a prolonged leave can make that mathematically impossible without a qualifying spouse who shifts into the role.
- [What Happens to REPS Status in the Year You Retire or Stop Working](https://repstime.com/blog/reps-status-retirement-year): REPS status is determined annually. In the year you retire or stop working, you must still clear both the 750-hour test and the more-than-half-of-personal-services test for that full calendar year, but losing your W-2 often makes the second test much easier to meet — or, if you stopped working mid-year, much harder to retroactively satisfy.
- [What Triggers an IRS Audit of Real Estate Professional Status Claims](https://repstime.com/blog/irs-audit-reps-triggers): IRS audits of Real Estate Professional Status claims are most commonly triggered by large rental losses claimed against high W-2 income, combined with hour logs that were reconstructed after the fact and lack specific task details. A real-time contemporaneous log is the single strongest defense against a disallowed REPS deduction.