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Looking to make an additional IRA contribution for 2025 to help lower our taxes.  When entering an amount on the Total 2025 traditional IRA contributions field, my taxes go down.  When I add same amount in the Amount of these regular contributions for 2025 you contributed between January 1, 2026 and April 15, 2026 filed, my taxes go back to what they were.  Seems to be offsetting it for some reason.  Any ideas or suggestions?    I would think that if our income was over the MAGI threshold, it wouldn't deduct on either field.   Thanks

I purchased a single-family home in Merced, CA in December 2025 and placed it in service as a rental property later that month.   Timeline: • Property purchased: early December 2025 • Property listed for rent: December 14, 2025 (listing went live through a property manager and syndicated to rental sites) • Tenant moved in: February 2026   Because the property was listed and available for rent in December, the rental activity and depreciation were started in 2025.   Some work was done after purchase but before the tenant moved in, including: • landscaping cleanup and yard preparation • minor outdoor fixes to make the property presentable for tenants • cleaning and general preparation for listing   These costs did not add new structures or permanent improvements. They were mainly done to clean up the yard and make the property rentable. In the return, these costs were entered in Schedule E under rental expenses (maintenance/repairs category) rather than as assets in the depreciation section.   Questions: 1. If landscaping work is primarily cleanup and preparation (not installing new irrigation systems, patios, fences, etc.), is it reasonable to treat it as a maintenance expense on Schedule E rather than a capital improvement? 2. Would entering these costs as maintenance/repairs expenses instead of depreciable assets generally be the correct place in the tax return? 3. These expenses occurred after the property was listed for rent but before the tenant moved in. Are expenses during this period typically deductible rental expenses? 4. The rental shows a loss for the first year, and the software indicates the loss does not provide a tax benefit this year. Is that usually because the loss becomes a passive activity loss that carries forward to future years? Just trying to confirm that these landscaping and preparation costs were entered in the correct place in the return and that the passive loss treatment is normal for a first-year rental property.