If you sell, exchange, or otherwise dispose of your property, you
usually have a gain or a loss. This section explains certain rules for
determining whether any gain you have is taxable, and whether any loss
you have is deductible.
A sale is a transfer of property for money or a mortgage, note, or
other promise to pay money. An exchange is a transfer of property for
other property or services.
Determining Gain or Loss
You usually realize a gain or loss when you sell or exchange
property. A gain results if the amount you realize from a sale or
exchange of property is more than its adjusted basis. A loss results
if the adjusted basis of the property is more than the amount you
realize.
See chapter 7
for the definition of basis, adjusted basis, and fair
market value.
Amount realized.
The amount you realize from a sale or exchange is the total of all
money you receive plus the fair market value of all property or
services you receive. The amount you realize also includes any of your
liabilities assumed by the buyer and any liabilities to which the
property you transferred is subject, such as real estate taxes or a
mortgage.
If the liabilities relate to an exchange of multiple properties,
see Treatment of liabilities under Multiple Property
Exchanges in chapter 1 of Publication 544.
Amount recognized.
Your gain or loss realized from a sale or exchange of property is
usually a recognized gain or loss for tax purposes. A recognized
gain is a gain you must include in gross income and report on
your income tax return. A recognized loss is a loss you
deduct from gross income. For example, if your recognized gain from
the sale of your tractor is $5,300, you include that amount in gross
income on Form 1040. However, your gain or loss realized from certain
exchanges of property is not recognized for tax purposes. See
Like-Kind Exchanges, next. Also, a loss from the
disposition of property held for personal use is not deductible.
Like-Kind Exchanges
Certain exchanges of property are not taxable. This means any gain
from the exchange is not recognized, and any loss cannot be deducted.
Your gain or loss will not be recognized until you sell or otherwise
dispose of the property you receive.
The exchange of property for the same kind of property is the most
common type of nontaxable exchange. To be a like-kind exchange, the
property traded and the property received must be both the following.
- Qualifying property.
- Like property.
These two requirements are discussed later.
Additional requirements apply to exchanges in which the property
received is not received immediately upon the transfer of the property
given up. See Deferred exchange, later.
If the like-kind exchange involves the receipt of money or unlike
property or the assumption of your liabilities, you may have a
recognized gain. See Partially nontaxable exchange, later.
Multiple-party transactions.
The like-kind exchange rules also apply to property exchanges that
involve three- and four-party transactions. Any part of these
multiple-party transactions can qualify as a like-kind exchange if it
meets all the requirements described in this section.
Receipt of title from third party.
If you receive property in a like-kind exchange and the other party
who transfers the property to you does not give you the title, but a
third party does, you can still treat this transaction as a like-kind
exchange if it meets all the requirements.
Basis of property received.
If you acquire property in a like-kind exchange, the basis of the
property is the same as the basis of the property given up. See
chapter 7
for more information about basis.
Money paid.
If, in addition to giving up like property, you pay money in a
like-kind exchange, you still have no recognized gain or loss. The
basis of the property received is the basis of the property given up,
increased by the money paid.
Example.
Bill Smith trades an old tractor for a new one. The new tractor
costs $10,800. He is allowed $2,000 for the old tractor and pays
$8,800 cash. He has no recognized gain or loss on the transaction
regardless of the adjusted basis of his old tractor. If Bill sold the
old tractor to a third party for $2,000 and bought a new one, he would
have a recognized gain or loss on the sale of his old tractor equal to
the difference between the amount realized and the adjusted basis of
the old tractor.
Reporting the exchange.
Report the exchange of like-kind property on
Form 8824, Like-Kind
Exchanges. The instructions for the form explain how to report
the details of the exchange. Report the exchange even though no gain
or loss is recognized.
If you have any recognized gain because you received money or
unlike property, report it on Schedule D (Form 1040) or Form
4797,
whichever applies. You may also
have to report the recognized gain as ordinary income because of
depreciation recapture on Form 4797. See chapter 11
for more
information.
Qualifying property.
In a like-kind exchange, both the property you give up and the
property you receive must be held by you for investment or for
productive use in your trade or business. Machinery, buildings, land,
trucks, and rental houses are examples of property that may qualify.
The rules for like-kind exchanges do not apply to exchanges of the
following property.
- Property you use for personal purposes, such as your home
and your family car.
- Stock in trade or other property held primarily for sale,
such as crops and produce.
- Stocks, bonds, notes, or other securities or evidences of
indebtedness, such as accounts receivable.
- Partnership interests.
However, you might have a nontaxable exchange under other
rules. See Other Nontaxable Exchanges in chapter 1 of
Publication 544.
Like property.
To qualify as a nontaxable exchange, the properties exchanged must
be of "like kind" as defined in the income tax regulations.
Generally, real property exchanged for real property qualifies as an
exchange of like-kind property.
Personal property.
Depreciable tangible personal property can be either "like kind"
or "like class" to qualify for nontaxable exchange treatment.
Like-class properties are depreciable tangible personal
properties within the same General Asset Class or Product Class.
General Asset Classes.
General Asset Classes describe the types of property frequently
used in many businesses. They include the following property.
- Office furniture, fixtures, and equipment (asset class
00.11).
- Information systems, such as computers and peripheral
equipment (asset class 00.12).
- Data handling equipment except computers (asset class
00.13).
- Airplanes (airframes and engines), except planes used in
commercial or contract carrying of passengers or freight, and all
helicopters (airframes and engines) (asset class 00.21).
- Automobiles and taxis (asset class 00.22).
- Buses (asset class 00.23).
- Light general purpose trucks (asset class 00.241).
- Heavy general purpose trucks (asset class 00.242).
- Railroad cars and locomotives except those owned by railroad
transportation companies (asset class 00.25).
- Tractor units for use over the road (asset class
00.26).
- Trailers and trailer-mounted containers (asset class
00.27).
- Vessels, barges, tugs, and similar water-transportation
equipment, except those used in marine construction (asset class
00.28).
- Industrial steam and electric generation or distribution
systems (asset class 00.4).
Product Classes.
Product Classes include property listed in a 4-digit product class
(except any ending in "9," a miscellaneous category) in Division
D of the Standard Industrial Classification codes of the Executive
Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget, Industrial
Classification Manual. Copies of the manual may be obtained from the
National Technical Information Service, an agency of the U.S.
Department of Commerce. To order the manual, call
1-800- 553-NTIS
(1-800-553-6847). The cost of the
manual is $30 and the order number is PB87-100012INQ.
Examples.
An exchange of a truck for a tractor is an exchange of like-kind
property, and so is an exchange of timber land for crop acreage. An
exchange of a tractor for acreage, however, is not an exchange of
like-kind property. Neither is the exchange of livestock of one sex
for livestock of the other sex. An exchange of the assets of a
business for the assets of a similar business cannot be treated as an
exchange of one property for another property. Whether you engaged in
a like-kind exchange depends on an analysis of each asset involved in
the exchange.
Partially nontaxable exchange.
If you exchange your property for like-kind property and also
receive money or unlike property, or both, in an exchange on which you
realize gain, you have a partially nontaxable exchange. You are taxed
on the gain realized to the extent of the money and the fair market
value of the unlike property you receive. A loss is not deductible.
Example 1.
You trade farm land that cost $30,000 for $10,000 cash and other
land to be used in farming with a fair market value of $50,000. You
have a gain of $30,000, but only $10,000, the cash received, is
recognized.
Example 2.
Assume the same facts as in Example 1, except that,
instead of money, you received a tractor with a fair market value of
$10,000. Your recognized gain is still limited to $10,000, the value
of the tractor (the unlike property).
Example 3.
Assume in Example 1 that the fair market value of the
land you received was only $15,000. Your $5,000 loss is not
deductible.
Unlike property given up.
If you trade property for like-kind property and also give up
unlike property in the exchange, you have a recognized gain or loss on
the unlike property you give up. This gain or loss is the difference
between the fair market value of the unlike property and the adjusted
basis of the unlike property.
Like-kind exchanges between related persons.
Special rules apply to like-kind exchanges between related persons.
These rules affect both direct and indirect exchanges. Under these
rules, if either person disposes of the property within 2 years after
the exchange, the exchange is disqualified from nonrecognition
treatment. The gain or loss on the original exchange must be
recognized as of the date of the later disposition. The 2-year holding
period begins on the date of the last transfer of property that was
part of the like-kind exchange.
Related persons.
Under these rules, related persons generally include members of
your family (spouse, brother, sister, parent, child, etc.), a
corporation in which you have more than 50% ownership, a partnership
in which you directly or indirectly own more than a 50% interest of
the capital or profits, and two partnerships in which you directly or
indirectly own more than 50% of the capital or profits interest.
For the list of related persons, see Nondeductible Loss
under Sales and Exchanges Between Related Persons in
chapter 2 of Publication 544.
Example.
You used a truck in your farming business. Your sister used a
station wagon in her landscaping business. In December 1999, you
exchanged your truck, plus $200, for your sister's station wagon. At
that time, the fair market value (FMV) of your truck was $7,000 and
its adjusted basis was $6,000. The FMV of your sister's station wagon
was $7,200 and its adjusted basis was $1,000. You realized a gain of
$1,000 (the $7,200 FMV of the station wagon minus the $200 you paid,
minus the $6,000 adjusted basis of the truck). Your sister realized a
gain of $6,200 (the $7,000 FMV of your truck plus the $200 you paid,
minus the $1,000 adjusted basis of the station wagon).
However, because this was a like-kind exchange, you recognized no
gain. Your basis in the station wagon was $6,200 (the $6,000 adjusted
basis of the truck plus the $200 you paid). Your sister recognized
gain only to the extent of the money she received, $200. Her basis in
the truck was $1,000 (the $1,000 adjusted basis of the station wagon
minus the $200 received, plus the $200 gain recognized).
In 2000, you sold the station wagon to a third party for $7,000.
Because you sold it within 2 years after the exchange, the exchange is
disqualified from nonrecognition treatment. On your tax return for
2000, you must report your $1,000 gain on the exchange in 1999. You
also report a loss on the sale of $200 (the adjusted basis of the
station wagon, $7,200 (its $6,200 basis plus the $1,000 gain
recognized), minus the $7,000 realized from the sale).
In addition, your sister must report on her tax return for 2000 the
$6,000 balance of her gain on the 1999 exchange. Her adjusted basis in
the truck is increased to $7,000 (its $1,000 basis plus the $6,000
gain recognized).
Exceptions to the rules for related persons.
The following property dispositions are excluded from these rules.
- Dispositions due to the death of either related
person.
- Involuntary conversions.
- Dispositions where it is established to the satisfaction of
the IRS that neither the exchange nor the disposition has as a main
purpose the avoidance of federal income tax.
Exchanges of multiple properties.
Under the like-kind exchange rules, you must generally make a
property-by-property comparison to figure your recognized gain and the
basis of the property you receive in the exchange. However, for
exchanges of multiple properties, you do not make a
property-by-property comparison if you do either of the following.
- Transfer and receive properties in two or more exchange
groups.
- Transfer or receive more than one property within a single
exchange group.
For more information, see Multiple Property Exchanges in
chapter 1 of Publication 544.
Deferred exchange.
A deferred exchange is one in which you transfer property you use
in business or hold for investment and later receive like-kind
property you will use in business or hold for investment. The property
you receive is replacement property. The transaction must be an
exchange (that is, property for property) rather than a transfer of
property for money used to buy replacement property.
A deferred exchange for like-kind property may qualify for
nonrecognition of gain or loss if the like-kind property is identified
and transferred within the following time limits.
- You must identify the property to be received within 45 days
after the date you transfer the property given up in the
exchange.
- The property must be received by the earlier of
the following dates.
- The 180th day after the date on which you transfer the
property given up in the exchange.
- The due date, including extensions, for your tax return for
the tax year in which the transfer of the property given up
occurs.
For more information, see Deferred Exchange in chapter 1 of Publication 544.
Transfer to Spouse
No gain or loss is recognized (included in gross income) on a
transfer of property from an individual to (or in trust for the
benefit of) a spouse, or a former spouse if incident to divorce. This
rule does not apply if the recipient is a nonresident alien. Nor does
this rule apply to a transfer in trust to the extent the liabilities
assumed and the liabilities on the property are more than the
property's adjusted basis.
Any transfer of property to a spouse or former spouse on which gain
or loss is not recognized is not considered a sale or exchange. The
recipient's basis in the property will be the same as the adjusted
basis of the giver immediately before the transfer. This carryover
basis rule applies whether the adjusted basis of the transferred
property is less than, equal to, or greater than either its fair
market value at the time of transfer or any consideration paid by the
recipient. This rule applies for determining loss as well as gain. Any
gain recognized on a transfer in trust increases the basis.
For more information on transfers of property incident to divorce,
see Property Settlements in Publication 504.
Foreclosure
or Repossession
If you do not make payments you owe on a loan secured by property,
the lender may foreclose on the loan or repossess the property. The
foreclosure or repossession is treated as a sale or exchange from
which you may realize gain or loss. This is true even if you
voluntarily return the property to the lender. You may also realize
ordinary income from cancellation of debt if the loan balance is more
than the fair market value of the property.
Buyer's (borrower's) gain or loss.
You figure and report gain or loss from a foreclosure or
repossession in the same way as gain or loss from a sale or exchange.
The gain or loss is the difference between your adjusted basis in the
transferred property and the amount realized. See Determining
Gain or Loss, earlier.
You can use Table 10-1 to figure your gain or loss
from a foreclosure or repossession.
Table 10-1
Amount realized on a nonrecourse debt.
If you are not personally liable for repaying the debt (nonrecourse
debt) secured by the transferred property, the amount you realize
includes the full amount of the debt canceled by the transfer. The
total canceled debt is included even if the fair market value of the
property is less than the canceled debt.
Example 1.
Ann paid $200,000 for land used in her farming business. She paid
$15,000 down and borrowed the remaining $185,000 from a bank. Ann is
not personally liable for the loan (nonrecourse debt), but pledges the
land as security. The bank foreclosed on the loan 2 years after Ann
stopped making payments. When the bank foreclosed, the balance due on
the loan was $180,000 and the fair market value of the land was
$170,000. The amount Ann realized on the foreclosure was $180,000, the
debt canceled by the foreclosure. She figures her gain or loss in Part
I, Form 4797, by comparing the amount realized ($180,000) with her
adjusted basis ($200,000). She has a $20,000 deductible loss.
Example 2.
Assume the same facts as in Example 1 except the fair
market value of the land was $210,000. The result is the same. The
amount Ann realized on the foreclosure is $180,000, the debt canceled
by the foreclosure. Because her adjusted basis is $200,000, she has a
deductible loss of $20,000, which she reports in Part I, Form 4797.
Amount realized on a recourse debt.
If you are personally liable for repaying the debt (recourse debt),
the amount realized on the foreclosure or repossession does not
include the canceled debt that is income from cancellation of debt.
However, if the fair market value of the transferred property is less
than the canceled debt, the amount realized includes the canceled debt
up to the fair market value of the property. You are treated as
receiving ordinary income from the canceled debt for the part of the
debt that is more than the fair market value. See Cancellation of
debt, later.
Example 3.
Assume the same facts as in Example 1 earlier except Ann
is personally liable for the loan (recourse debt). In this case, the
amount she realizes is $170,000. This is the canceled debt ($180,000)
up to the fair market value of the land ($170,000). Ann figures her
gain or loss on the foreclosure by comparing the amount realized
($170,000) with her adjusted basis ($200,000). She has a $30,000
deductible loss, which she figures in Part I, Form 4797. She is also
treated as receiving ordinary income from cancellation of debt. That
income is $10,000 ($180,000 - $170,000). This is the part of the
canceled debt not included in the amount realized. She reports this
income on line 10 of Schedule F.
Seller's (lender's) gain or loss on repossession.
If you finance a buyer's purchase of property and later acquire an
interest in it through foreclosure or repossession, you may have a
gain or loss on the acquisition. For more information, see
Repossession in Publication 537.
Cancellation of debt.
If property that is repossessed or foreclosed upon secures a debt
for which you are personally liable (recourse debt), you generally
must report as ordinary income the amount by which the canceled debt
is more than the fair market value of the property. This income is
separate from any gain or loss realized from the foreclosure or
repossession. Report the income from cancellation of a business debt
on Schedule F, line 10. Report the income from cancellation of a
nonbusiness debt as miscellaneous income on line 21, Form 1040.
You can use Table 10-1 to figure your income from
cancellation of debt.
However, income from cancellation of debt is not taxed if any of
the following apply.
- The cancellation is intended as a gift.
- The debt is qualified farm debt (see chapter 4).
- The debt is qualified real property business debt (see
chapter 5 of Publication 334).
- You are insolvent or bankrupt (see Publication 908).
Forms 1099-A and 1099-C.
A lender who acquires an interest in your property in a foreclosure
or repossession should send you Form 1099-A showing information
you need to figure your gain or loss. However, if the lender also
cancels part of your debt and must file Form 1099-C, the lender
may include the information about the foreclosure or repossession on
that form instead of on Form 1099-A. The lender must file Form
1099-C and send you a copy if the amount of debt canceled is
$600 or more and the lender is a financial institution, credit union,
federal government agency, or any organization that has a significant
trade or business of lending money. For foreclosures or repossessions
occurring in 2000, these forms should be sent to you by January 31,
2001.
Previous | First | Next
Publication Index | 2000 Tax Help Archives | Tax Help Archives | Home