Printing Australia

Section 1031 gives real estate investors a wonderful gift in the form of a tax deferral, a kind of 'interest-free loan' from Uncle Sam. This may give you cause to wonder why the government would see fit to do this. As a matter of fact, section 1031 is not a naked gesture of goodwill, but a calculated, mutually beneficial arrangement. Giving investors the ability to place their assets in the best investments possible stimulates the U.S. economy, creating new jobs and new opportunities for Americans.

The fact that 1031 exchanges are intended to boost the U.S. economy raises the question of whether one can exchange a property for one located overseas. The short answer is no. The money you save by making a 1031 exchange rather than selling outright is considered a tax deferment, which means that although you are temporarily liberated from capital gains taxes, the U.S. government will still want to collect the money if you sell your property at some point in the future. It is difficult and sometimes impossible for the IRS to collect taxes on the sale of foreign property.

In private letter rulings relating to the U.S. Virgin Islands, the IRS has ruled that a property must be income-producing in order to meet like-kind requirements. This is a more constricted definition of a like-kind exchange than that which is normally applied to exchanges made on properties in the United States, which merely requires that your property be held for the purpose of business, trade or investment.

The path of least resistance when it comes to making a 1031 exchange is to confine your transactions to the United States, which comprise the fifty states as well as Washington D.C. In the event that you find it necessary to make an exchange on property located in an outside territory, I advise you to carefully analyze your replacement property to make sure it meets like-kind requirements. You may even want to request your own private letter ruling from the IRS.

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