Mixing real estate, taxes

by Linnea Brown

03/31/06

JUNO BEACH - Many residents have a real estate agent to sell their house and an accountant to prepare their taxes - but it's not very often that they find one person who does both.

Juno Beach resident Tom Seamon, who owns Tequesta Tax Center and works as a real estate agent for Illustrated Properties in Jupiter, is the exception. A 30-year veteran of the tax industry, he now spends most of the year selling real estate, until tax season rolls around. Then he prepares taxes for many of his fellow agents and clients.

"Some days I do taxes, some days I do real estate and sometimes I change hats in the middle of the day," he said. "I've never done things for the sake of making money, and have always just done what I've done to help people. When you do that, the money comes."

Born and raised on a farm, Mr. Seamon, 61, studied to be a priest before starting his tax career as an enrolled agent in Ohio in 1970.

In 1977, he bought his old Ohio elementary school and converted it into a professional building, filling it with several different businesses.

"At that time, I had an insurance agency, an accounting business, a travel agency and I sold real estate," he said. "They each complimented one another, because when people got a tax refund, I would send them over to the travel agency to take a cruise. When they owed money, I would send them to the insurance agency to buy an IRA or some kind of tax-deferred investment."

After experiencing success and traveling around the country as a motivational speaker, Mr. Seamon sold his business in Ohio and moved to Juno Beach in 2000 to semi-retire.

However, many of his old clients refused to let him go. Approximately 150 of them continue to mail him their taxes each year, often accompanied by a blank check for him to simply fill in his agent fee.

"I generally prepare them and send them back the same day," he said. "I've known these people for 36 years, and I find myself even doing their children's taxes now. I enjoy it."

Understanding the "ins and outs" of national tax law also helps with his work in the local real estate industry, he said.

"Many of the transactions in real estate have tax consequences that if you understand them, you can guide people through it and help them save money," he said. "For example, if a person buys (a property) and sells it within a year, they have to pay tax on 100 percent of the profit. But if they keep it for more than a year, then it's considered a capital gain and they only have to pay tax on a small percentage of it."

He also cited a little-known Internal Revenue Service tax rate - offered to the victims of Hurricane Katrina - that has also benefited local residents affected by Hurricane Wilma.

"The IRS extended the same special rates to those affected by Hurricane Wilma," he said. "By sharing that with people, I was able to help many people that were absolutely devastated by (property damage) and would not ordinarily have been able to deduct it from their taxes."

His favorite memory of helping local clients with his tax knowledge occurred several years ago, when he met Jeff and Shelby Otto, a young couple who had reluctantly put their Jupiter Farms house on the market. They were adopting a baby and needed money to pay the adoption expenses, so they were selling their home to move to Port St. Lucie.

It was then that Mr. Seamon's accounting knowledge kicked in, allowing the Ottos to keep their house, he said.

"I looked it up in the tax code and found that the government will give anyone that adopts a baby a $10,000 credit," he said. "I gave them all of the forms that they needed and helped them fill them out, and they were just elated."

In turn, the couple also helped spread the word about the adoption code to other local residents who were adopting.

"That's the fun I get out of doing what I do," Mr. Seamon said.

With this year's tax filing deadline looming on April 16, Mr. Seamon estimated that he has been spending three days a week at each office, though his tax knowledge is frequently called upon in the real estate office, he said.

"I'm always getting people in my office who will spin around in their chairs and say, 'Tom, can I deduct this camera I bought?' or 'Can we deduct the next car we buy?'" he said.

Mr. Seamon also cheerfully accepts phone calls from his tax clients, who call throughout the year with questions about deductions.

"It's all about just helping people, because that's what God wants us to do," he said. "I help you, you help me and we get through life. That's what it's all about."

A divorcee, Mr. Seamon has two grown daughters who live in California.

When not preparing taxes, he enjoys playing golf and spending time with his girlfriend.

Tequesta Tax Center is located at 308 Tequesta Drive. Mr. Seamon's Illustrated Properties office is located in Jupiter's Abacoa plaza at the corner of Donald Ross Road and Military Trail.

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