1031 Exchange
A 1031 exchange, also known as a real estate exchange or a tax-deferred exchange, was created by the I.R.S. in 1990. A 1031 exchange is the sale of one investment for the purchase of another investment. In terms of mortgage, when a homeowner sells one investment property to buy another, like property, they can offset or even avoid capital gains tax.
In a 1031 exchange, the property sold is called “relinquished property” and the property acquired is called “replacement property”. Prior to the introduction of the 1031 exchange, a homeowner had to sell one property before the close of escrow on the new property, a practice which proved to be very difficult. The I.R.S. finally proposed a solution with the introduction of the 1031 exchange, which effectively allowed a homeowner to sell their relinquished property and use the proceeds to buy the replacement property later. For the exchange to work, it must be overseen by a Qualified Intermediary and certain rules must be followed.
Real estate is divided into four classifications, including property held for business use, land held for investment, property held for personal use, and property held primarily for sale. The first two qualify for a 1031 exchange, while the last two do not. All proceeds from the Relinquished Property sale must be invested in the Replacement Property. The properties exchanged must be of like-kind, meaning that they are of the same classification, and not based on their condition or quality. There are also certain time requirements that must be strictly followed. The identification period of the 1031 exchange begins the date the Relinquished property is transferred and expires after 45 days. The exchange period begins on the date you transfer the Relinquished property and ends after 180 days or earlier if tax returns for the taxable year in which the transfer occurred are submitted before those 180 days. There must be an actual exchange overseen by a Qualified Intermediary, and not just a transfer of property for money only. That said, it’s always wise to seek the services of a professional early on to avoid any costly mistakes when executing a 1031 exchange.
Here are those rules again in a condensed list:
the property must be exchanged for the same type of property
the property must conduct business
the new property must have a value equal to or greater than the property sold
the exchange must occur in the allotted time frame
all proceeds from the relinquished property must go towards the replacement property
