1031 Tax Exchange Info

The 1031 Exchange process starts with your CPA or accountant. The discussion should include the amount of taxes owed if you sold the property outright. The adjusted basis would be determined, and based on this adjusted basis, you can determine what the "normal" capital gains tax liability would be. Also, you can determine the amount of taxes that would be due to depreciation recapture. This depreciation recapture is currently taxed at a maximum rate of 25%. The capital gains that are attributed to depreciation are taxed at a higher rate.

Likewise, your CPA or accountant will determine how much of the gain relates to normal appreciation from the natural increase in the value of the property. This appreciation is currently taxed at a maximum rate of only 15%. Your CPA will also determine if any state income tax or capital gains tax would be incurred. This would also include municipal tax liability.

After determining all of the tax liability from selling your property, you can decide to sell it outright or to sell it utilizing the tax advantages of a 1031 Exchange. Knowing all of the tax liability helps you to make a clear decision. Normally, the 1031 Exchange will result in a far less tax bill than if you sold the property outright.

After your potential taxes are determined, you should call a Qualified Intermediary, and inform them (the QI) of your wish to complete a 1031 Exchange. Typically, you also need a written Purchase Agreement, signed by both you as the seller, and your purchaser, stipulating your desire to sell your relinquished property as part of a 1031.

It is a good idea to stipulate in your purchase agreement your desire to utilize the 1031 Exchange option. You have established that the purchaser agrees to cooperate with the 1031 Exchange. Also, you have established the groundwork for the closing. For an example of the cooperation clause go to www.1031podcast.com.

At this point, your closing can now take place, and your sale will be completed. Once the sale is complete, and the net sales proceeds have been paid directly to your Qualified Intermediary, your 10131 countdown will begin. The day after the closing is considered "day one." From this day, you have forty-five days to identify in writing the properties you want to purchase as your replacement property. It is also the first day of the 180 day exchange period that you have to complete the 1031 exchange and acquire your replacement property.

In summary, the first step is to work with your CPA or accountant to determine what the capital gains tax will be (including depreciation recapture and state and local taxes.) At this point, you will decide if the 1031 Exchange will be of benefit to you. A Qualified Intermediary can help you and your CPA or accountant realize the full potential of the 1031 Exchange process. The next step is to document your intent to sell the property to your purchaser as well as your desire to complete a 1031 Exchange by inserting text in your purchase agreement.

If you have all of these things done, you can start the processes of deferring taxes and keeping your money working for you.

Investors in the U.S. can save a lot of money by utilizing 1031 exchanges to defer all of their capital gains tax on the sale of investment property. A 1031 tax exchange is similar to an interest free loan from Uncle Sam.

Although 1031 Exchanges are primarily used to shift our equity from one property to another, there are ways of recovering some of that equity for use as leisure or further investment purposes. There are two ways to recover money from your property - before or after the 1031 Exchange is completed.

In a 1031 exchange, all the proceeds from the sale are supposed to be passed on to the Qualified Intermediary - this prevents you from receiving any cash benefit from the sale. There may be times, however, when you would like to use some of that money for other purposes. If you decide to refinance your property shortly before the 1031 exchange and use that equity for your desired luxury item, you may find yourself violating IRS rules. (IRS vs. Garcia)

Garcia was a taxpayer who decided to refinance his property in anticipation of the 1031 exchange. The IRS successfully argued that when Garcia took out money before the 1031, it was akin to telling the settlement agent to pay him some of the sale proceeds at closing. In short, you cannot take out your equity just before the 1031 exchange. Cashing out equity, called "boot," is acceptable if you pay taxes on it. Garcia tried to avoid the tax and ran afoul of the 1031 rationale, and the IRS.

Now, you want to avoid the Garcia issue so you decide to refinance the replacement property. This is where post-exchange financing comes into play. Not all taxpayers want to leave their equity in the replacement property - some want to take out that equity and buy more real estate. But, how long should you wait after completing the 1031 exchange before you take out the equity in the replacement property? Some say wait a nanosecond.

Some will tell you that the time required for the finance is but a nanosecond. The nanosecond refinance is waiting just long enough after the 1031 Exchange to show the IRS through the closing statement that you have reinvested all of your equity into the replacement property. In a separate transaction, a new statement is used to show that the replacement property is encumbered with new debt via a loan or mortgage. Then there is cash payment from the lender to you. What we have is essentially a pool of money that you can access after the exchange.

There are risks in the nanosecond interpretation since there is no definitive IRS rule regarding how long you have to keep the equity in the replacement property. In order to avoid the Garcia trap, or a negative ruling from the IRS, it is deemed prudent to keep the equity in the replacement property until the following tax year, or until two years have passed from the 1031 exchange to the ultimate refinance.

Investors in the U.S. can save big money by utilizing 1031 exchange to defer all of their capital gains tax on the sale of investment property. A 1031 tax exchange is similar to an interest free loan from Uncle Sam.

There are a lot of investors that end up making the mistake of selling their business or investment property but have to pay thousands of dollars in capital gains taxes to the IRS. What they may not know that there are tax laws that provide them the ability to defer all of the capital gains taxes on the sale of property which has been held as a trade or business - thereby retaining their gain.

This law defers and can even eradicate taxes you would normally have to pay if you were selling your property. However, the money you make from selling your property must be used exclusively to purchase a like-kind property that you also intend to use for business or investment purposes.

When you take advantage of the 1031 exchange laws, you can save a lot of money, thereby allowing you to leverage your equity by purchasing even more property (which may have not been possible without the added tax savings).

The 1031 Exchange law has benefited many, and I assure you that you can reap many rewards from it yourself. In order to reap those rewards, there are some specific procedures you need to follow.

Be sure that you select qualified intermediary (A.K.A. "Q.I.") with a solid track record and professional reputation. A qualified intermediary should be very familiar and exclusively in the business of facilitating tax exchanges.

Your Q.I. provides a written agreement to change the transfer from and outright sale to an "Exchange" then transfers your relinquished property (that you are selling) and takes that money and uses it to purchase your replacement property on your behalf.

In order to qualify for this exchange you must abide by the following rules:

1. Firstly, the investment property that you are replacing must have been used for investment purposes or use in a trade or business and must be "like-kind" (i.e. real estate in the United States for real estate in the U.S.).

2. Second, you must find a replacement property if you haven?t already, clearly identify it in writing to your Q.I. it within 45 days. It is necessary to close on the sale on the replacement property within one 180 days.

3. To defer your capital gains taxes, all of the proceeds from the sale of the first property must be used to purchase your new replacement property.

Follow these 1031 rules and you will be in the best position to faciliate your exchange. The procedure is simple enough but even if the path seems a little complicated from time to time, it will be well worth it with the money you will save. Do yourself a favor and keep your capital gains by using a 1031 exchange instead!

U.S. investors can save big money by using a 1031 exchange to defer all of their capital gains tax on the sale of investment property. A 1031 tax exchange is similar to an interest free loan from Uncle Sam.

Watch the video on 1031 Exchange Rules to learn more.

The general rule when it comes to 1031 exchanges is that all proceeds from the sale must be reinvested in the replacement property, but as a property investor you likely have experience with the other costs associated with closing on a sale, including your real estate agent's commission, the recording of the deed, and know that some of your proceeds must be put towards these sorts of transactional expenses.

These sorts of expenses don't seem to fit on your typical closing statement, and for good reason. Some costs are appropriate to debit off your closing statement during a 1031 exchange transaction, and there are some that most certainly are not.

The correct way to go about transferring future rent and security deposits to the new owner of the property is to cut a check from your own expense account. If you debit these kinds of expenses to your closings statement, you are effectively freeing money in your account for your own use and taking what as known as boot from the proceeds of the transaction. Any cash benefit or boot you receive from the sale is not considered part of a like-kind exchange, and investors who have attempted this have found themselves facing IRS litigation.

In the process of a 1031 exchange, you will also face expenses related to the acquisition of new debt on your replacement property. Loan origination fees, underwriting fees, and processing fees are not part of a like-kind exchange and the money must come out of your own property.

In the real estate business, it is always advisable to take care when dealing with the variety of expenses that arise during a closing, and this is doubly important when making 1031 transactions. Section 1031 is based on the idea of a like-kind exchange, in which you move everything from point A to point B without skimming any kind of cash benefits or proceeds off the top, so it is best to avoid debiting expenses in a way that usurps this premise.

U.S. investors can save their money by using a 1031 exchange to defer all of their capital gains tax on the sale of investment property. A 1031 tax exchange is similar to an interest free loan from Uncle Sam!

Before you move to sell, you should carefully considerable the possibility of instead making a 1031 exchange. That's right; section 1031 and the indefinite tax deferral it grants apply not only to the buying and selling of real estate, but also to personal property, including - you guessed it - classic cars. Though this tactic is widely used in the real estate business, it is a tremendous blessing to car collectors, who face significantly higher capital gains liabilities on their transactions.

Making a 1031 exchange on a car, or, indeed, any sort of antique or collectible, allows you to turn that 28% percent tax liability into a tax deferral, a kind of loan from the government, but one that accrues no interest. This deferral is transferred from one piece of property to the next as long as you continue to exchange, and is collected when you decide to sell outright rather than making another exchange.

If this has changed your mind about selling your classic car investment up front, you should be aware of one key difference between a real estate exchange and a personal property exchange: in your case, the like-kind requirements will be more stringent, so your car must be exchanged for another car of equal or greater value; you cannot exchange, for example, a car for an airplane or a tractor.

Keep this in mind during your exchange, and you will be sure to come out ahead, and will have that 28 percent of your proceeds safely reinvested instead of lost to capital gains taxes.

U.S. property investors can save big money by utilizing a 1031 exchange to defer all of their capital gains tax on the sale of investment property. A 1031 tax exchange is like an interest free loan from Uncle Sam!