You're being told in a way that easily causes an incorrect interpretation on your part. Nowhere in IRS publication 527 will you even find the phrase "start up expenses". Keep in mind that just because someone may be a TTX employee, doesn't automatically make them right, or an authority on any given subject. I've been a landlord for 30 plus years now, and can tell you for a fact that start up expenses are flat out not allowed on SCH E rental property, and they never have been for the entire 30 plus years I've been involved in residential rental real estate.
