1031 Tax Exchanges For Real Estate Investors

By Ronald T. Brunfield

In closing a sale on real estate, a number of expenses have to be considered such as the standard operating expenses pertaining to the money used as your agent's commission and for the recording of the deed. All these are taken from the proceeds and are reflected on the closing statement. Yet there are also other costs like rent proration and security deposits that crop up during the transaction.

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 property's new owner can have future rent and security deposits via a check taken from your personal account. It may pose some danger to debit these kinds of expenses to the closing statement primarily because in the process, you are taking 'boot' from the transaction's proceeds. In addition, you are freeing an amount from your account that is supposed to be for your own use.

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.

This article would like to emphasize the importance of being extra cautious in your 1031 exchange transactions. In case you are tempted to receive non like-kind proceeds or cash benefits from 1031 exchange, put in mind that the IRS may run after you and are actually looking closely on these types of transactions. - 23204

About the Author:

U.S. investors can save big money by using 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.