Key Steps in the 1031 Exchange Process Determine if a 1031 Exchange is Right for You. Develop a Tax-Deferred Transition Strategy. Inform Your Advisors & Attorney About your 1031 Exchange. Enter into a Contract to Sell Your Existing Investment Property. Select a Qualified Intermediary and Open an Exchange.
Your 1031 exchange must be reported by completing Form 8824 and filing it along with your federal income tax return. If you completed more than one exchange, a different form must be completed for each exchange. For line-by-line instructions on how to complete form, download the instructions here.
A 1031 exchange gets its name from Section 1031 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, which allows you to avoid paying capital gains taxes when you sell an investment property and reinvest the proceeds from the sale within certain time limits in a property or properties of like-kind and equal or greater value.
A Qualified Intermediary, or QI, is an independent third party to the transaction whose function is to prepare the documents necessary to create the exchange, as well as to act as the independent escrow agent for the exchange funds.
Appraisals are an integral part of the 1031 exchange process as they provide an unbiased estimate of the property's value.
How do you report Section 1031 Like-Kind Exchanges to the IRS? You must report an exchange to the IRS on Form 8824, Like-Kind Exchanges and file it with your tax return for the year in which the exchange occurred.
Your settlement agent is required to submit the 1099-S upon the completion of every sale and Form 8824 is your way of notifying the IRS that you did an exchange on that sale and may have deferred your tax liability.
How to Do a 1031 Exchange Choose a qualified intermediary to coordinate the exchange. Sell your current real estate property. You have 45 days to identify potential replacement properties. You have 180 days to close on a replacement property. File IRS Form 8824.