The article is somewhat jumbled, written by a lay person who can't explain Ross' situation clearly.

My take is the guy is getting hammered by 3 different code sections

1. PAL rules. Sec. 469 limits deductions from passive activities ( real estate rental) to passive income. Regardless of form of ownership (ind, LP, LLP, LLC)

2. Investment interest expense is limited to investment income. (Interest, dividends, capital gains). He had no carried interest and no capital gains so any investment interest expense is bottled up until he gets some.

3. The AMT is taking away his deductions for state & local taxes.

My guess is the guy is highly leveraged in real estate investments and can't get any tax relief currently from his losses.

Bad tax advice likely not to blame for this.

And Robert Willins is a tax expert.