You know nothing about tax, stick to real estate and leave the tax advice to the tax professionals because your advice is wrong. Have you even read the IRS definition of earned income? What work/service has the buyer done for that agent that the rebate or kickback as you call it becomes earned taxable income to the buyer? It doesn't, the rebate is a reduction of cost basis and not taxable to the buyer. The agent should reflect the rebate made to the buyer on line 2 of the Schedule C. And yes, I'm a realtor who is also a licensed CPA.
