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Are Americans Really Now Collecting From a “Reverse Income Tax Fund?”

Sleuthifying the latest Oxford Club tease -- Can you really collect $1,720 four times a year from the IRS?

A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of snooping around in Ian Wyatt’s teaser for a “Real Estate Tax Rebate,” so when I saw this latest Oxford Club pitch for a “Reverse Income Tax Fund” that you could invest in, well, it seemed only fair to give it a gander.

So what’s the story? Well, in exchange for joining the Oxford Club and getting their Communique newsletter, they’ll tell you how to collect these “Reverse Income Tax Payments” four times a year.

And yes, the quotes are there for a good reason — that means they had some lawyers check out their copy, because when you’re reading a teaser ad anything within quotes means “not really.” There are not, of course, real “Reverse Income Tax Payments” available for you (other than the earned income tax credit, arguably, but there aren’t many folks subscribing to investment newsletters who qualify for that — and the free tax helpers down at the library or the senior center next Winter will undoubtedly be able to tell you all about that if you need help), and there is no “enrollment period” for these “payments” that ends on July 25.

Don’t worry, we’ll explain what they’re actually talking about — but first, here’s a sample in their own words:

“Americans Now Collecting From ‘Reverse Income Tax Fund’

“Thanks to the IRS, 27,000 U.S. Citizens Are Now Getting Cash Distributions of Up to $7,573 Every 90 Days – Regardless of Income, Deductions, or Exemptions….

“On Jan. 2, 2013, taxes went up on 77% of Americans across the country….

“Millions of citizens are still scrambling to figure out how much the legislation will wind up costing them.

“But surprisingly, some folks don’t really care.

“That’s because they’re taking advantage of a new way to ‘turn the tables’ on the Internal Revenue Service.

“And while the typical American family pays $16,134 in taxes a year (an average rate of 22%), these ‘in the know’ people are raking in thousands of dollars… every 90 days, as you’ll see….

“Just decide how much you want to collect, and get on the special distribution list using the instructions I’ll lay out in a moment.

“There’s no annoying paperwork to fill out, no complicated forms to file.

“And get this…

“You remain eligible for this program regardless of your current income.”

So … naturally, you want to be “in the know,” right? Don’t worry, that’s why you’re here and that’s why I’m here, to sniff out some answers for you.

How is it that you get all this money? Well, it turns out, you do … sort of … get it from the IRS. Here’s how they put it in the ad:

“Stroll down Washington D.C.’s historic Pennsylvania Avenue… Turn on 10th Street NW towards the National Mall…

“And you’ll find yourself standing in front of the Internal Revenue Service headquarters.

“Commissioner Steven Miller and 2,000 other staffers report to work here every day.

“Yet that represents just a fraction of the agency’s nationwide workforce.

“All told, the IRS employs a jaw-dropping 92,000 people.

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“And here’s the thing: Every one of them needs a place to work.”

No one likes the IRS very much, but 92,000 doesn’t sound particularly jaw dropping to me — there are something like 150 million tax returns (just individual returns) filed every year, and more than 1% of them are individually “examined”. The IRS is chronically underfunded, since no one can get votes by saying they’re in favor of more audits and more tax compliance, so perhaps someday that number will grow even larger.

But you can probably tell what point we’re getting to here: Like with most other federal agencies, IRS employees are scattered around the country in regional and local offices, with larger groups concentrated in the areas that have powerful congressional representatives (like the IRS computing center in Martinsville, WV, thanks to the late Senator Byrd). And most of the humdrum federal offices scattered around the country to house our nation’s bureaucrats and clerks are in leased buildings … so do you see where we’re headed?

Yes, this is yet another tease for being a landlord to the US government by owning an office Real Estate Investment Trust.

Which one? Let’s check the other clues quickly.

“Getting a piece of the Reverse Income Tax Fund could be the smartest income-generating move you’ll ever make.

“In short, the Fund is a special kind of corporation that’s responsible for collecting these rent payments, and then distributing the profits to participating Americans.

“The Fund owns buildings all over the USA, from Tampa to San Diego to Washington, D.C….

“Right now, the IRS is just pouring money into the Reverse Income Tax Fund.

“One IRS office in Cheyenne, Wyoming contributes $1.3 million a year to the pot.

“Another IRS facility located in Trenton, New Jersey helps add some $6.5 million per year to the Reverse Income Tax Fund.

“Then there’s an IRS lease for a 531,976 square foot building located in Fresno, California. This 10-year rental goes for more than $8.4 million per year….

“Overall, the Reverse Income Tax Fund collects money on 62 government properties, with a staggering total of 7.6 million rentable square feet.

“And it’s growing fast…

“Case in point: The Fund added 13 of those 62 income properties to the portfolio in 2012 alone.”

We get a few other arguments for investing in this fund — from the fact that the government will alway be able to pay its bills and is price-insensitive, to the fact that agencies generally sign long-term leases and renew them happily rather than moving, and they rarely close down their offices.

And of course, it’s a REIT so it’s required to pay out 90% of income to shareholders as dividends — and apparently it’s a well-respected one, we’re told that “Forbes just named this business one of ‘America’s 100 Most Trustworthy Companies.'”

A tease for a REIT wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the yield, particularly in this chronically low-yield environment, so we are told that the dividend is 230% higher than the average Dow dividend, and 358% higher than Treasuries … which isn’t saying much, actually. And the distribution has been climbing, we’re told, and — though they don’t mention how much you’d have to invest (they never do mention that number), they do say how much you could earn …

“With as few as 1,000 shares, you could automatically start collecting $1,720 or more every year.”

So what is this REIT that’s supposed to give us such warm fuzzy feelings and a nice full wallet?

This is Government Properties Income Trust (GOV), which is indeed a government-focused REIT (overwhelmingly Federal, with IRS and Customs as big tenants, though they lease a bunch of buildings to state governments and one to the United Nations). And they do pay an annual $1.72 in dividends at the current rate, though at the current share price getting $1,720 in annual dividends would mean you’re putting up almost $25,000 as your initial investment for 1,000 shares (it’s just under $25 at the moment).

GOV is actually one of the more appealing office REITs — it should have very little economic sensitivity, they shouldn’t lose any major tenants, and they’re not growing super fast but they are growing and raising the dividend (like all REITs, they can’t pour their earnings back into new buildings since it has to be dividended out, so major growth projects have to be funded by selling stock or, if they have balance sheet flexibility, adding debt). Their last quarter actually brought a solid FFO growth rate of 20% due to accretive acquisitions, but that’s not consistent (FFO is what REITs generally use instead of earnings, and it’s usually what goes into the reported PE ratio for REITs in most websites who publish that data, too — it’s basically the cash flow they have available to pay dividends, without the non-cash charges like depreciation).

So that stability of customers and tenants, and that slow growth in the dividend, look pretty good when you note that the yield is quite solid at better than 7%. That’s unusually high for a solid REIT, most relatively solid and predictable REITs have substantially lower yields down in the 4-5% neighborhood, including some others that are at least partially exposed to the federal government like the Washington Real Estate Investment Trust, for example (ticker WRE — that one’s far more diversified in terms of tenants and property type, but is geographically focused on Metro Washington, which gets the flu if the Federal Government catches a cold). I haven’t looked closely at this one in recent months and I don’t know if there are any hidden skeletons in there somewhere — but there don’t seem to be major issues at first glance, their FFO is fine and growing and supports the dividend, they don’t carry an unreasonable amount of debt, so unless you believe that states and the federal government will be shuttering office space or breaking leases, or unless there’s a strong possibility of a bunch of their leases rolling over at lower rates in the next few years (I haven’t checked), there shouldn’t be any big operational shocks.

You can see their last conference call transcript here — and there are other fans of GOV in newsletter land as well, Steve Sjuggerud teased them last Fall as part of his “ValuableProperties.com” push, and later wrote in his free email about the appeal of this company at prices pretty close to where it is today.

So why did the stock fall 10% or so in recent weeks to get back to those prices we saw last Fall? Well, you can probably chalk that up to interest rate sensitivity — which plagues pretty much any income-focused investment. The Fed got everyone spooked a few weeks ago, rates bumped up on mortgages and treasuries, and therefore rates bumped up on REITs and many other income investments as well. And if Mr. Market needs to bump up the dividend income yield for a REIT without that REIT actually raising the dividend dramatically in short order, that means he’s dropping the share price. So changes in interest rates will certainly impact the shares of GOV and all their competitors, but I’ve given up on any hope of predicting what those changes might be — I thought rates were ridiculously low when 10-year Treasuries were at 4% a few years ago, so you’ll have to find your forecasting acumen somewhere else.

Interested in being a landlord to the government? Think the current 7.1% yield makes GOV a good buy? Let us know what you think with a comment below.

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vivian lewis
June 6, 2013 4:18 pm

the point is not merely for Agora to tip a REIT but also for its anti-government libertarian owners and its overpaid copywriters to make Uncle Same and in particular the IRS look bad.

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tampat
Member
tampat
June 6, 2013 4:30 pm
Reply to  vivian lewis

GOV is actually a pretty good rec here.
As for trying to make the IRS and govt look bad, seriously?
They do a very good job of that themselves and if Agora points out the follies of the govt more power to them. BTW Vivian, since you seem to know, how much do those copywriters make?

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james krempen
Member
james krempen
June 6, 2013 5:27 pm

will look into this REIT

timmuggs
timmuggs
June 9, 2013 12:24 pm
Reply to  james krempen

Merrill Lynch put out an analysis on 20 Feb 2013 that gave a target price of $20 for GOV — it is now at $24.68 as of close of market on Friday June 9. ML was worried about the gov shutting offices. Certainly, if GOV has post office tenants, there could be problems. I like 7% on a stable REIT, but I’m not sure if GOV is stable, or smells like one.

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jloewen
jloewen
June 6, 2013 5:28 pm

Travis, can you explain how REITs (and LPs too) earn, in the case of GOV, about $.28/quarter but pay out about $.43/quarter? Are these earnings AFTER the payout of dividends? Otherwise, the company is gonna go broke, no? Or are their earnings deflated drastically by fake depreciation? Help!

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spqr1234
spqr1234
June 6, 2013 6:02 pm
Reply to  jloewen

I would love to hear that answer too.

fleagle
fleagle
June 6, 2013 6:19 pm

JL, earnings per share for REITs and MLPs are totally meaningless. As Travis pointed out, FFO and AFFO are the real metrics you want to see if the distribution (divy) is really covered and whether it can continue at that rate or be increased. Go to the Seeking Alfa website, and you will learn all you can possibly want about REITS and MLPs, what FFO and AFFO mean and why, what are the tax ramifications on which type of these 2 investment classes have on your IRA, 401K, or private brokerage, etc.

My only recommendation is become knowledgeable of REITs and MLPs before you invest your dollar. Good Luck

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Sally G
Guest
Sally G
June 6, 2013 7:57 pm

Hmmm, I usually avoid REITS; not sure enough of the complexity, but landlord to the government is appealing; gov’t. agencies are likely to be stable tenants, as the article points out, and certainly the government works for us, why not collect the income on the rent that SOMEONE will certainly be paid? Still a bit wary; will look more deeply into this.

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Sally G
Guest
Sally G
June 6, 2013 11:57 pm

Just did a bit of checking; this fund is only a couple of years old—who owned the properties before that? Is this fund really some TBTF bankster scam?

Viktor M
Member
June 7, 2013 3:00 am

I have qualms about the government being a stable tenant. E.g., the US Postal Service is insolvent and shutting down post offices. What happens to the buildings? To keep the gov running while they again violate the supposed Debt Ceiling the Treasury is again looting the gov employees pension fund. The Fed has board members who are now wobbling with respect to maintaining QE. This destabilizes the stock and bond markets as we have seen in recent days. The newly minted buzzword is the TAPER, a process by which the QE is strangled slowly enough so that no spike-like shock is triggered in the markets. Yet the onset of the taper portends increasing interest rates which could produce flame thrower-like effects on REITs like GOV. Tapering away into the sunset, I remain, V.

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Sally G
Guest
Sally G
June 7, 2013 11:11 am
Reply to  Viktor M

Good points; of course, the USPS is strangled by Congress’ insistence that it put aside more retirement $ than any other entity, public or private, completely funding for 75 years, which puts them at an absurd disadvantage. I had not heard about TAPER, they keep coming up with something new as fast as I THINK I can understand the old. I think I will stick to actual stocks of actual companies!

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baygreen
June 7, 2013 3:42 am

This is all nice as long as Ben B. keeps printing money and the interest rate is about 0 but with this dictatorship with the IRS they might be breaking a couple leases for the new Dance show they might want to buy some theaters or Broadway stages and those leases which will cost more now especially parking. But they could do the show at the White House that would be a good Reit. Just kidding might be time to short some govt. leases that the Reits have. ProbAly some good leads of the site PRISMKLABS.COM AND WIRED.COM. FOR THE PHONES AND INTERNET GOVT. SITES. I STILL HAVE MY T Mobil BUT THEY ARE ON ME KNOW. I will be looking for some recording stock to come out especially with him meeting China when he should be talking to Canada. I wonder if China will still tell Obama no Keystone because they are getting close to an Asian Pipeline of Canada’s west coast. Veresen symbol FCGYF has a line to Oregon coast from Canada if Obama passes that Sabine Pass LNG could change fast. Veresen has part of the ALLIANCE Pipeline that goes to Chicago imagine that. A good stock with a monthly dividend FCGYF, THERE CHECKS DON’T BOUNCE.

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Leroy H
Member
Leroy H
June 7, 2013 10:37 am

In the mid 80’s my wife and I invested in a couple of Limited Partnerships that bought apartment complexes with proposed ROI of about 18% at year. Twenty years later all of the properties were sold at a loss or went bankrupt. I have a feeling these REITs are just a throw-off of the LP’s of the 80’s. While we did get some early returns on our investments they quickly dwindled as the Partnership siphoned off profits to those managing and maintaining the properties.

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Mark Bohana
Guest
Mark Bohana
June 9, 2013 10:08 am

Leroy, a lot of people where involved in the Limited Partnerships Tax sheltered deals. The bottom line is that the govt. decided with TRA 86 that partnerships tax shelters where no longer able to generate a loss for passive income investors. Off course this would contribute to a 40% vacancy of a shopping center or paper loss of a apartment building and would receive a 12-18% loss per year of your initial investment. Thru depreciation, interests , general expenses on a K1, etc.. you could write off 12-18% but the original principal remained the same. I personally lost $5K with low income housing, although prior to 86 managed for a few year to write off a tax loss of $1200 per year.

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Leroy H
Member
Leroy H
June 9, 2013 2:37 pm
Reply to  Mark Bohana

Mark, Appreciate your comments. We were unseasoned in the investment world in the 80s and depended on an investment advisor to guide us to a sound investment, but later found out all the advisor was interested in was his commission. The advisor was attached to EF Hutton, which is no longer! Investing our money in Microsoft or Intel then would have made us millionaires today, but who could have guessed personal computers would become a way of life for most of us. Thanks, Leroy H

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Sally G
Guest
Sally G
June 9, 2013 3:32 pm
Reply to  Leroy H

During the 70s, we had a Merrill Lynch broker who did NOT focus on commission; he actually considered his clients’ interests; he ultimately retired early because of the corporate sales pressure. Nobody since then has been as good. Most of my investments are with Fidelity, self-directed—I do my own research, and I do most of my purchases through the automated phoen system.

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Mark Bohana
Guest
Mark Bohana
June 9, 2013 4:08 pm
Reply to  Sally G

My suggestion is to look at Interactive Brokers, rates are very low and is well worth the learning curve of the program. Plus you can trade any markets as long as you get the subscription, years ago I was also trading US and Toronto Exchange. Separately, I utilize End of Day charting, and realtime charting.

Sally G
Guest
Sally G
June 9, 2013 4:42 pm
Reply to  Mark Bohana

You seem a lot more sophisticated than I, and may have more time to spend as well. I will check into that, however—thanks!

fedwatcher
Member
fedwatcher
June 10, 2013 2:40 am

All REITs got hit big time with the rise in Treasury yields. It is not that a particular REIT is bad but rather the spread is less. The move “levered” the REIT, the bigger the loss.

This is no big deal, just a rational re-pricing of risk vs. reward. The 30-year run in bonds is over, but that does not mean that some exceptional yields are still available. Rather there are less of them.

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Tara
June 10, 2013 5:26 pm

What is your take on the exceptional yields of AGNC?

AlB
Member
June 13, 2013 2:28 am
Reply to  Tara

My take is that AGNC dropped $10 recently. That’s a huge principal loss!

Gary
Guest
Gary
December 14, 2013 1:20 pm

I have been professionally investing for 23 years in secondary traded “non-public” REIT LPs at discount to value with 7-8% passive income. Last year my 8% CPA 15 REIT LP (bought @ $10.50) was converted into public WPC at $13.50…30% gain. Public-traded REITS trade at higher price (to income) than non-public REIT LPs.

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