Instructions for Form 4797 |
2003 Tax Year |
General Instructions
This is archived information that pertains only to the 2003 Tax Year. If you are looking for information for the current tax year, go to the Tax Prep Help Area.
- The Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 reduced the capital gains tax rates for noncorporate taxpayers for
sales,
exchanges, or conversions of assets (including installment payments received) after May 5, 2003. Because the change in the
capital gains rates may
affect the tax treatment of section 1231 gains and losses, noncorporate taxpayers (and S corporations) with a net section
1231 gain may need to use
column (h) in Part I to report post-May 5, 2003, gains and losses (see the footnote on Form 4797, Part I).
- Partnerships (other than electing large partnerships), S corporations, and their partners and shareholders must follow revised
instructions
for reporting the disposition of property for which a section 179 expense deduction was claimed in a prior year (see the line
22 instructions on page
5).
- Partners and shareholders must follow revised instructions for reporting section 179 expense deduction recapture reported
by a partnership
or S corporation with a fiscal year beginning in 2002 (see the line 17 instructions on page 4).
Use Form 4797 to report:
- The sale or exchange of:
- Property used in your trade or business;
- Depreciable and amortizable property;
- Oil, gas, geothermal, or other mineral properties; and
- Section 126 property.
- The involuntary conversion (from other than casualty or theft) of property used in your trade or business and capital assets
held in
connection with a trade or business or a transaction entered into for profit.
- The disposition of noncapital assets (other than inventory or property held primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary
course of your
trade or business).
- The disposition of capital assets not reported on Schedule D.
- The gain or loss (including any related recapture) for partners and S corporation shareholders from certain section 179 property
dispositions by partnerships (other than electing large partnerships) and S corporations.
- The computation of recapture amounts under sections 179 and 280F(b)(2) when the business use of section 179 or listed property
decreases to
50% or less.
- Use Form 4684, Casualties and Thefts, to report involuntary conversions from casualties and thefts.
- Use Form 8824, Like-Kind Exchanges, to report exchanges of qualifying business or investment property for property of a like
kind. For exchanges of property used in a trade or business (and other noncapital assets), enter the gain or (loss) from Form
8824, if any, on line 5
or 16.
- If you sold property on which you claimed investment credit, see Form 4255, Recapture of Investment Credit, to find out if you
must recapture some or all of the credit.
If you report a loss on an asset used in an activity for which you are not at risk, in whole or in part, see the instructions
for Form 6198,
At-Risk Limitations. Also, see Pub. 925, Passive Activity and At-Risk Rules. Losses from passive activities are subject first to the
at-risk rules and then to the passive activity rules.
Depreciable Property and Other Property Disposed of in the Same Transaction
If you disposed of both depreciable property and other property (for example, a building and land) in the same transaction
and realized a gain, you
must allocate the amount realized between the two types of property based on their respective fair market values (FMVs) to
figure the part of the gain
to be recaptured as ordinary income because of depreciation. The disposition of each type of property is reported separately
in the appropriate part
of Form 4797 (for example, for property held more than 1 year, report the sale of a building in Part III and land in Part
I).
Disposition of Assets That Constitute a Trade or Business
If you sell a group of assets that makes up a trade or business, both you and the buyer generally must allocate the total
sales price to the assets
transferred and file Form 8594, Asset Acquisition Statement.
If you sold property at a gain and you will receive a payment in a tax year after the year of sale, you generally must report
the sale on the
installment method unless you elect not to do so.
Use Form 6252, Installment Sale Income, to report the sale on the installment method. Also use Form 6252 to report any payment received
during your 2003 tax year from a sale made in an earlier year that you reported on the installment method.
To elect out of the installment method, report the full amount of the gain on a timely filed return (including extensions).
If you timely filed
your tax return without making the election, you can still make the election by filing an amended return within 6 months of
the due date of your
return (excluding extensions). Write “Filed pursuant to section 301.9100-2” at the top of the amended return.
See Pub. 537, Installment Sales, for more details.
Traders Who Made a
Mark-To-Market Election
A trader in securities or commodities may elect under section 475(f) to use the mark-to-market method to account for securities
or commodities held
in connection with a trading business. Under this method of accounting, any security or commodity held at the end of the tax
year is treated as sold
(and reacquired) at its FMV on the last business day of that year.
Unless you are a new taxpayer, the election must be made by the due date (not including extensions) of the tax return for the year
prior to the year for which the election becomes effective.
If you are a trader in securities or commodities with a mark-to-market election under section 475(f) in effect for the tax
year, the following
special rules apply.
- Gains and losses from all securities or commodities held in connection with your trading business (including those marked
to market) are
treated as ordinary income and losses, instead of capital gains and losses. As a result, the lower capital gain tax rates
and the limitation on
capital losses do not apply.
- The gain or loss from each security or commodity held in connection with your trading business (including those marked to
market) is
reported on Form 4797, line 10 (see the instructions for line 10 on page 4).
- The wash sale rule does not apply to securities or commodities held in connection with your trading business.
For details on the mark-to-market election and how to make it, see Pub. 550, Investment Income and Expenses; sections 475(e) and 475(f);
and Rev. Proc. 99-17, 1999-1 C.B. 503. You can find Rev. Proc. 99-17 on page 52 of Internal Revenue Bulletin 1999-7 at
www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb99-07.pdf.
Involuntary Conversion of Property
You may not have to pay tax on a gain from an involuntary or compulsory conversion of property. See Pub. 544, Sales and Other
Dispositions of Assets, for details.
Exclusion of Gain on Sale of a Home Used for Business
If the property sold was used for business or to produce rental income and also was owned and used as your home during the
5-year period ending on
the date of the sale, you may be able to exclude part or all of the gain figured on Form 4797. For details on the exclusion
(including how to figure
the amount of the exclusion), see Pub. 523, Selling Your Home.
If the property was held more than 1 year, complete Part III to figure the amount of the gain. Do not take the exclusion into account
when figuring the gain on line 24. If line 22 includes depreciation for periods after May 6, 1997, you cannot exclude gain to the extent of
that depreciation. On line 2 of Form 4797, write “Section 121 exclusion,” and enter the amount of the exclusion as a (loss) in column (g) and, if
applicable, as a (loss) in column (h).
If the property was held for 1 year or less, report the sale and the amount of the exclusion, if any, in a similar manner
on line 10 of Form 4797.
If you have an overall loss from passive activities and you report a loss on an asset used in a passive activity, use Form 8582, Passive
Activity Loss Limitations, or Form 8810, Corporate Passive Activity Loss and Credit Limitations, to see how much loss is allowed before
entering it on Form 4797.
You cannot claim unused passive activity credits when you dispose of your interest in an activity. However, if you dispose
of your entire interest
in an activity, you may elect to increase the basis of the credit property by the original basis reduction of the property
to the extent that the
credit has not been allowed because of the passive activity rules. Make the election on Form 8582-CR, Passive Activity Credit Limitations,
or Form 8810. No basis adjustment may be elected on a partial disposition of your interest in an activity.
Recapture of Preproductive Expenses
If you elected out of the uniform capitalization rules of section 263A, any plant that you produce is treated as section 1245
property. For
dispositions of plants reportable on Form 4797, enter the recapture amount taxed as ordinary income on line 22 of Form 4797.
See Pub. 225,
Farmer's Tax Guide, for details.
Section 197(f)(9)(B)(ii) Election
If you elected under section 197(f)(9)(B)(ii) to recognize gain on the disposition of a section 197 intangible and to pay
a tax on that gain at the
highest tax rate, include the additional tax on Form 1040, line 41 (or the appropriate line of other income tax returns).
On the dotted line next to
that line, enter “197” and the amount. The additional tax is the amount that, when added to any other income tax on the gain, equals the gain
multiplied by the highest tax rate.
Rollover of Gain From Empowerment Zone Assets
If you sold a qualified empowerment zone asset that you held for more than 1 year, you may be able to elect to postpone part
or all of the gain
that you would otherwise include on Form 4797, Part I. If you make the election, the gain on the sale generally is recognized
only to the extent, if
any, that the amount realized on the sale exceeds the cost of qualified empowerment zone assets (replacement property) you
purchased during the 60-day
period beginning on the date of the sale. The following rules apply.
- No portion of the cost of the replacement property may be taken into account to the extent the cost is taken into account
to exclude gain on
a different empowerment zone asset.
- The replacement property must qualify as an empowerment zone asset with respect to the same empowerment zone as the asset
sold.
- You must reduce the basis of the replacement property by the amount of postponed gain.
- This election does not apply to any gain (a) treated as ordinary income or (b) attributable to real property, or an
intangible asset, which is not an integral part of an enterprise zone business.
- The District of Columbia enterprise zone is not treated as an empowerment zone for this purpose.
- The election is irrevocable without IRS consent.
See Pub. 954 for the definition of empowerment zone and enterprise zone business. You can find out if your business is located within
an
empowerment zone by using the
RC/EZ/EC Address Locator at http://hud.esri.com/locateservices/ezec.
Qualified empowerment zone assets are:
- Tangible property, if:
- You acquired the property after December 21, 2000,
- The original use of the property in the empowerment zone began with you, and
- Substantially all of the use of the property, during substantially all of the time that you held it, was in your enterprise
zone business;
and
- Stock in a domestic corporation or a capital or profits interest in a domestic partnership, if:
- You acquired the stock or partnership interest after December 21, 2000, solely in exchange for cash, from the corporation
at its original
issue (directly or through an underwriter) or from the partnership;
- The business was an enterprise zone business (or a new business being organized as an enterprise zone business) as of the
time you acquired
the stock or partnership interest; and
- The business qualified as an enterprise zone business during substantially all of the time during which you held the stock
or partnership
interest.
How to report.
Report the entire gain realized from the sale as you otherwise would without regard to the election. On Form 4797,
line 2, enter “ Section 1397B
Rollover” in column (a) and enter as a (loss) in column (g) and, if applicable, as a (loss) in column (h), the amount of gain included
on Form 4797
that you are electing to postpone. If you are reporting the sale directly on Form 4797, line 2, use the line directly below
the line on which you
reported the sale.
See section 1397B for more details.
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