DST investors · and the sponsors & advisors who serve them

We do the tax work on DST investments

A Delaware Statutory Trust comes with tax reporting most generalist CPAs rarely see: the 1031 exchange going in, the annual tax package every year it's held, and the sale or re-exchange coming out.

Whether the DST is yours or your client's, the model is the same: the investor keeps their own CPA, and we handle the DST pieces — documentation, Schedule E figures, and sale reporting, delivered ready to file.

Consultations are complimentary and take 30 minutes. No obligation.
Going inexchange-into-DST documentation
Every yearSchedule E from your tax package
Coming outsale & re-exchange reporting
Complimentary consultation30 minutes

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We'll review your notes before the call. Have this year's DST tax package handy if you've received it — it makes the conversation concrete.

Where the DST is in its lifecycle

One practice, the whole DST lifecycle

DST tax questions follow the investment: going in, every year it's held, and coming out the other side. Whether the DST is yours or your client's, find the stage — that's roughly what the first conversation will cover.

Going in

Exchange-into-DST documentation

The 1031 exchange that funds your DST needs post-closing analysis. Fractional ownership, reserves, and offering costs create basis complexities most CPAs rarely see — and boot that's misclassified gets taxed wrong in either direction.

  • Basis allocation across your DST interests
  • Boot and reserve treatment on Form 8824
  • Depreciation scheduling for your situation
Every year · the annual service

DST Schedule E preparation

Each year your sponsor sends a tax package, and each year someone has to carry it onto your Schedule E correctly. We turn the package into finished, filing-ready figures for your CPA — a flat annual fee, for as long as you hold the trust.

  • Property-by-property Schedule E figures
  • Depreciation applied correctly
  • Multi-state breakouts where needed
Coming out

DST sale & re-exchange

When the trust goes full cycle, you either report the sale or roll into your next 1031 exchange — and both depend on basis and depreciation records that were kept right along the way.

  • Sale reporting from the trust's final figures
  • Documentation for the exchange into your next property
  • Step-up basis calculations for inherited DST interests
Already filed · if the IRS asks

Review & audit representation

Held a DST for years and never had the reporting checked? We review what's been filed and flag what's off. And if an exchange we've documented faces an IRS audit, we defend it at no additional cost.

  • Review of DST reporting already filed
  • Audit representation included with documentation
  • Backed by $2,000,000 of E&O insurance
The annual job · Schedule E

The DST tax package isn't a finished form

Every year, your DST sponsor sends a tax package. It lists your share of the trust's rental income, operating expenses, mortgage interest, and depreciation for the year.

What it is not is a completed tax form. Someone still has to carry those numbers onto your Schedule E, apply the depreciation correctly, and — when the trust holds property in more than one state — report it property by property.

A CPA who mostly files ordinary returns doesn't run into DST tax packages often, and that's where figures get dropped, depreciation gets missed, or the income lands in the wrong place on the return.

What arrives each year
  • Your pro-rata share of the trust's rental income
  • Operating expenses and mortgage interest
  • Depreciation for the year
  • Often: several properties, across several states
Raw reporting data — someone still has to translate it onto your return.
What the annual service delivers

Finished figures, in the right places

We read your DST tax package and produce the finished Schedule E figures for it — the numbers, in the right places, ready to hand to your CPA. It's a defined annual job, priced as a flat annual fee.

Schedule E figures, done

Your share of income, expenses, and mortgage interest carried onto Schedule E — reported property by property where the DST requires it.

Depreciation handled correctly

The depreciation from the package applied the right way, so the deduction isn't overstated or quietly left on the table.

Multi-state DSTs, sorted out

If your trust holds property across several states, we break the numbers out so your CPA can see exactly what goes where.

Delivered to your CPA

You keep your own tax preparer. We hand off finished figures they can file — no need to switch accountants.

Why the first year matters most

Get it right the first time

Every return the investor files after that first year builds on the first year. Basis set wrong at the exchange, or depreciation started on the wrong foot, doesn't stay a one-year mistake — it follows the investment until the trust sells, and then it decides the tax bill on the way out.

Document the exchange correctly

Basis allocated across the DST interests, boot and reserves treated right on Form 8824, and the depreciation schedule set for the investor's situation — the numbers every later return is built on.

Report it right, year after year

Each year's tax package carried onto Schedule E correctly — property by property, depreciation applied the right way, multi-state breakouts where needed. Consistent, because it starts from a correct year one.

Exit clean

When the trust goes full cycle, the sale reporting — or the next exchange — falls out of records that were kept right all along. No reconstruction, no surprises at the worst possible time.

Fixing a DST return in year seven costs more than documenting it right in year one. That's the whole case for starting correctly.

FAQ · reviewed July 2026

DST tax questions, answered

Is DST income reported on Schedule E or a K-1?+
On Schedule E. A Delaware Statutory Trust is treated as a grantor trust for tax purposes, so each investor is considered to own a direct fractional interest in the underlying real estate. That income, expenses, and depreciation flow onto Schedule E — the same form used for directly owned rental property — not a partnership K-1.
What is a DST tax package?+
Each year the DST sponsor sends every investor a tax package. It lists your pro-rata share of the trust's rental income, operating expenses, mortgage interest, and depreciation for the year. It is raw reporting data, not a finished tax form, so someone still has to translate it onto your return.
Do I need a separate Schedule E for each property in a DST?+
Often, yes. Many DSTs hold more than one property, and the figures have to be reported property by property. When the properties sit in different states, that can also raise state filing questions. We break the package out the way it needs to appear on the return.
Can my own CPA use what you prepare?+
That is exactly how the service is built. We hand you finished Schedule E figures — including depreciation — that your CPA drops straight into your return. You keep your existing tax preparer; we just do the DST piece they are usually not set up to handle.
How often do you need to do this?+
Every year you hold the DST. A new tax package arrives each year, and each year it has to be carried onto that year's Schedule E. This is a flat annual service for exactly that reason.
Do you file my tax return?+
No. We prepare the Schedule E figures for your DST and hand them to your CPA to include with the rest of your return. If you would rather we also prepare the full return, ask us — but the core service is the DST Schedule E work itself.
Do you handle the tax side of exchanging into a DST?+
Yes. The 1031 exchange that funds a DST needs post-closing documentation: basis allocation across your DST interests, boot and reserve treatment on Form 8824, and depreciation scheduling. Fractional ownership, reserves, and offering costs create basis complexities most CPAs rarely see. We produce reports your CPA can file from directly, with audit representation included.
My DST sold. What do I need at tax time?+
When the trust goes full cycle you either have a taxable sale to report or the start of your next 1031 exchange. Either way, the numbers come from the trust's final reporting: your share of the proceeds, your remaining basis, and the depreciation taken along the way. We prepare the sale reporting — or the exchange documentation if you're rolling into the next property.
Sponsors, advisors & referral partners

A specific place to send the tax question

If you sponsor DSTs, advise clients into them, or facilitate the exchanges that fund them, you've heard the question: my CPA has never seen one of these — who handles the tax reporting? This page is the answer.

We do the tax work only. We don't sell DST investments, we don't act as a qualified intermediary, and we don't take over the client relationship. Your client comes to us with a tax question and goes back to you.

Send investors here directly, or reach out and we'll set up materials for your team.

Who sends people here
  • DST sponsors, after each year's tax packages go out
  • Financial advisors with clients in DSTs
  • Qualified intermediaries, post-exchange
  • CPAs who'd rather refer the DST piece than learn it
No fee in either direction — the client keeps their advisor, their CPA, and their sponsor.
Complimentary 30-minute consultation

Own a DST — or advise people who do? Let's get it reported right

Exchanging in, holding, or coming out the other side — there's no charge for the consultation, and there's a flat quote before any work begins. Sponsors and advisors: reach out and we'll set your team up, too.