Table of Contents
Written by : Clorinda Prybylski |
Current |
Write a comment |
Write a comment
hi it's jonathan with recruit i just want to talk about whether or not an llc can exchange their property under section 1031 and the answer is absolutely what we first look to is to figure out what type of tax partnership we're dealing with whether it's a single single member llc or a multi-member llc and single member llcs are disregarded for tax purposes whereas a multi-member llc with two or more members is treated as a tax partnership unless there's specific elections not to be in the event that it's a multi-member llc the partners themselves in that llc are the members they're the ones uh they don't actually own an interest in the real property they own an interest in the partnership so essentially the partnership itself is the exchanger so the partnership would be the one that's the taxpayer under the same taxpayer requirement and they'd be the ones that would sell the property the relinquished property and then acquire new replacement property some things that we come across that are some issues that maybe we can stay tuned for and have some new content or videos on that come up when in exchanging with partnerships are partnership buyouts or one member wants to continue or two members want to continue and one does not or two members want to continue and two members don't then we talk about issues related to a drop and swap or a swap and drop so those are videos that we can make in the future but i just wanted to confirm that yes an llc or a multi-member llc can engage in a section 1031 tax deferred exchange transaction and it's something we'll be glad to facilitate you
Thanks for your comment Cassondra Rodgerson, have a nice day.
- Clorinda Prybylski, Staff Member
frequently asked questions section 1031 exchanges and issues involving partnerships and LLC's to begin this section and this is something where there are oftentimes a lot of questions that were asked at asset preservation and it's important I'll point out at the onset that a taxpayer also review their situation with their tax and/or legal advisors because everybody's situation might be a little bit different but the important point to keep in mind here is that any entity can do in a 1031 exchange at the entity level when you're dealing with a partnership or a LLC a limited liability company and you've got some partners that would like to exchange and others that want to sell receive the cash and pay the taxes you've got a situation there and here's why the partnership interests are excluded from section 1031 tax deferral the partnership interest is a personal property interest the partnership owns real property or the LLC owns real property however the partners interest or the LLC member interest is a personal property interest so they can't do an exchange on a personal property interest for other like kind real property so the thing that it needs to be done first is if you've got Len let's just use an example three partners on a property and it's been held for investment two of the partners would like to do a 1031 exchange one wants to receive the cash and pay the taxes in that scenario what you first have to do is convert those three partnership interests into an interest in the real property itself so actually you would have to deed from the partnership so now those three former partners now own the property as tenant and common co-owners each one owns a one-third interest in the property now when we're dealing with a partnership or LLC in relation to a 1031 exchange scenario there really are two common approaches the first approach is to handle things on what's known as a drop and swap scenario so swap means 1031 exchange drop means to elect out of the partnership to drop out of the partnership so this involves distributing as we were talking about an interest in the property to each of the former partners then as 10 in common owners at the time of closing those former partners that would like to do a 1031 exchange they have an intermediary and they can be separate intermediaries that would handle their aspect they're one-third interest in the property as attending common owner in a 1031 exchange the one former partner that we would like to receive the cash receives the cash proceeds and pays taxes on it under the swap and drop scenario this is kind of the opposite of the drop and swap this is the same steps but what happens is the partnership completes the exchange that would be called the swab then after the replacement property is acquired the partnership that could then be distributed to the partner or partners the one or cash now I bring this up second because it's a viable alternative it typically happens in fairly closely held partnerships where there might be just a few family members if you've got a larger partnership or LLC with many partners or members it becomes a lot more challenging to accomplish a swap and drop scenario well the thing to be aware of really comes down to a holding period issue that if the drop out of the partnership happens fairly close to the actual exchange the swap there can be a significant issue there as to whether the property was held for investment purposes one requirement in any exchange is that the property must be held for investment so let's go back to my earlier scenario three partners owned a property and let's say it's been held for 18 years that's generally long enough to be considered held for investment by most anybody's definition and let's say three weeks before closing they drop out of the partnership the issue now becomes as ten in common co-owners they only held it for three weeks there's a very short ownership period so under that entity that tenant common co-owner the partnership held it for investment purposes but now the former partners who are ten and common owners only held it for a relatively short period of time only three weeks so that's an issue where the IRS and or state tax authorities can potentially challenge these types of transactions and it's a risk factor the general principle is the more time between the drop out of the partnership and the actual swap or 1031 exchange the better and so the longer you can have the better so in a perfect world and this doesn't happen that often it would be great to have a year or more of seasoning where they hold this tenant and common co-owners that kind of give you a little more background on this there are numerous federal tax court decisions and you'll see some of them listed ocher Mason a Maloney that the tax payers prevailed and so there's a lot of tax payer friendly Authority in this particular area at the same time some state tax authorities in particular the Franchise Tax Board in California has taken the position that they're not bound by the federal cases and so at this state tax level in California right now there are a lot of challenges to these transactions when they happen shortly before the property closes are shortly thereafter and certainly the IRS you know could certainly take that approach so you need to be aware that there is a little bit of a risk in these types of transactions there were also changes made way back in 2008 to the federal partnership tax return what's known as IRS form 1065 where you have to disclose to the IRS did you do a drop out of a partnership immediately before an exchange or did you African exchange drop out so it's information you have to provide I to the IRS proactively 'bf form 1065 main thing that can remember is to talk with your tax and legal advisers about these situations because they can be fairly complicated and you really have to look at your individual facts and circumstances to review your specific 1031 exchange situation contact asset preservation headquarters in California at 802 a to 1031 or Eastern Regional Office in New York at 866 394 1031 please read the full disclaimer as asset preservation cannot provide tax or legal advice
Thanks nadegadae your participation is very much appreciated
- Clorinda Prybylski
About the author
I've studied history of literature at Mount Saint Mary's University in Los Angeles and I am an expert in asian history. I usually feel cheerful. My previous job was word processing specialist I held this position for 15 years, I love talking about astronomy and ukelele playing. Huge fan of Missy Elliott I practice canoe sprint and collect toys.
Try Not to laugh !
Joke resides here...