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Publication 544
Sales and Other Dispositions of Assets

For use in preparing 2002 Returns

Applicable Percentage

The applicable percentage used to figure the ordinary income because of additional depreciation depends on whether the real property you disposed of is nonresidential real property, residential rental property, or low-income housing. The percentages for these types of real property are as follows.

Nonresidential real property.   For real property that is not residential rental property, the applicable percentage for periods after 1969 is 100%. For periods before 1970, the percentage is zero and no ordinary income because of additional depreciation before 1970 will result from its disposition.

Residential rental property.   For residential rental property (80% or more of the gross income is from dwelling units) other than low-income housing, the applicable percentage for periods after 1975 is 100%. The percentage for periods before 1976 is zero. Therefore, no ordinary income because of additional depreciation before 1976 will result from a disposition of residential rental property.

Low-income housing.   Low-income housing includes all the following types of residential rental property.

  • Federally assisted housing projects if the mortgage is insured under section 221(d)(3) or 236 of the National Housing Act or housing financed or assisted by direct loan or tax abatement under similar provisions of state or local laws.
  • Low-income rental housing for which a depreciation deduction for rehabilitation expenses was allowed.
  • Low-income rental housing held for occupancy by families or individuals eligible to receive subsidies under section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937, as amended, or under provisions of state or local laws that authorize similar subsidies for low-income families.
  • Housing financed or assisted by direct loan or insured under Title V of the Housing Act of 1949.

The applicable percentage for low-income housing is 100% minus 1% for each full month the property was held over 100 full months. If you have held low-income housing at least 16 years and 8 months, the percentage is zero and no ordinary income will result from its disposition.

Foreclosure.   If low-income housing is disposed of because of foreclosure or similar proceedings, the monthly applicable percentage reduction is figured as if you disposed of the property on the starting date of the proceedings.

Example.   On June 1, 1990, you acquired low-income housing property. On April 3, 2001 (130 months after the property was acquired), foreclosure proceedings were started on the property and on December 3, 2002 (150 months after the property was acquired), the property was disposed of as a result of the foreclosure proceedings. The property qualifies for a reduced applicable percentage because it was held more than 100 full months. The applicable percentage reduction is 30% (130 months minus 100 months) rather than 50% (150 months minus 100 months) because it does not apply after April 3, 2001, the starting date of the foreclosure proceedings. Therefore, 70% of the additional depreciation is treated as ordinary income.

Holding period.   The holding period used to figure the applicable percentage for low-income housing generally starts on the day after you acquired it. For example, if you bought low-income housing on January 1, 1986, the holding period starts on January 2, 1986. If you sold it on January 2, 2002, the holding period is exactly 192 full months. The applicable percentage for additional depreciation is 8%, or 100% minus 1% for each full month the property was held over 100 full months.

Holding period for constructed, reconstructed, or erected property.   The holding period used to figure the applicable percentage for low-income housing you constructed, reconstructed, or erected starts on the first day of the month it is placed in service in a trade or business, in an activity for the production of income, or in a personal activity.

Property acquired by gift or received in a tax-free transfer.   For low-income housing you acquired by gift or in a tax-free transfer the basis of which is figured by reference to the basis in the hands of the transferor, the holding period for the applicable percentage includes the holding period of the transferor.

If the adjusted basis of the property in your hands just after acquiring it is more than its adjusted basis to the transferor just before transferring it, the holding period of the difference is figured as if it were a separate improvement. See Low-Income Housing With Two or More Elements, next.

Low-Income Housing
With Two or More Elements

If you dispose of low-income housing property that has two or more separate elements, the applicable percentage used to figure ordinary income because of additional depreciation may be different for each element. The gain to be reported as ordinary income is the sum of the ordinary income figured for each element.

The following are the types of separate elements.

  • A separate improvement (defined later).
  • The basic section 1250 property plus improvements not qualifying as separate improvements.
  • The units placed in service at different times before all the section 1250 property is finished. For example, this happens when a taxpayer builds an apartment building of 100 units and places 30 units in service (available for renting) on January 4, 2001, 50 on July 18, 2001, and the remaining 20 on January 18, 2002. As a result, the apartment house consists of three separate elements.

The 36-month test for separate improvements.   A separate improvement is any improvement (qualifying under The 1-year test, below) added to the capital account of the property, but only if the total of the improvements during the 36-month period ending on the last day of any tax year is more than the greatest of the following amounts.

  1. One-fourth of the adjusted basis of the property at the start of the first day of the 36-month period, or the first day of the holding period of the property, whichever is later.
  2. One-tenth of the unadjusted basis (adjusted basis plus depreciation and amortization adjustments) of the property at the start of the period determined in (1).
  3. $5,000.

The 1-year test.   An addition to the capital account for any tax year (including a short tax year) is treated as an improvement only if the sum of all additions for the year is more than the greater of $2,000 or 1% of the unadjusted basis of the property. The unadjusted basis is figured as of the start of that tax year or the holding period of the property, whichever is later. In applying the 36-month test, improvements in any one of the 3 years are omitted entirely if the total improvements in that year do not qualify under the 1-year test.

Example.   The unadjusted basis of a calendar year taxpayer's property was $300,000 on January 1, 1989. During that year, the taxpayer made improvements A, B, and C, which cost $1,000, $600, and $700, respectively. The sum of the improvements, $2,300, is less than 1% of the unadjusted basis ($3,000), so the improvements in 1989 do not satisfy the 1-year test and are not treated as improvements for the 36-month test. However, if improvement C had cost $1,500, the sum of the 1989 improvements would have been $3,100. It then would be necessary to apply the 36-month test to figure if the improvements must be treated as separate improvements.

Addition to the capital account.   Any addition to the capital account made after the initial acquisition or completion of the property by you or any person who held the property during a period included in your holding period is to be considered when figuring the total amount of separate improvements.

The addition to the capital account of depreciable real property is the gross addition not reduced by amounts attributable to replaced property. For example, if a roof with an adjusted basis of $20,000 is replaced by a new roof costing $50,000, the improvement is the gross addition to the account, $50,000, and not the net addition of $30,000. The $20,000 adjusted basis of the old roof is no longer reflected in the basis of the property. The status of an addition to the capital account is not affected by whether it is treated as a separate property for determining depreciation deductions.

Whether an expense is treated as an addition to the capital account may depend on the final disposition of the entire property. If the expense item property and the basic property are sold in two separate transactions, the entire section 1250 property is treated as consisting of two distinct properties.

Unadjusted basis.   In figuring the unadjusted basis as of a certain date, include the actual cost of all previous additions to the capital account plus those that did not qualify as separate improvements. However, the cost of components retired before that date is not included in the unadjusted basis.

Holding period.   Use the following guidelines for figuring the applicable percentage for property with two or more elements.

  • The holding period of a separate element placed in service before the entire section 1250 property is finished starts on the first day of the month that the separate element is placed in service.
  • The holding period for each separate improvement qualifying as a separate element starts on the day after the improvement is acquired or, for improvements constructed, reconstructed, or erected, the first day of the month that the improvement is placed in service.
  • The holding period for each improvement not qualifying as a separate element takes the holding period of the basic property.

If an improvement by itself does not meet the 1-year test (greater of $2,000 or 1% of the unadjusted basis), but it does qualify as a separate improvement that is a separate element (when grouped with other improvements made during the tax year), determine the start of its holding period as follows. Use the first day of a calendar month that is the closest first day of a month to the middle of the tax year. If there are two first days of a month that are equally close to the middle of the year, use the earlier date.

Figuring ordinary income attributable to each separate element.   Figure ordinary income attributable to each separate element as follows.

Step 1. Divide the element's additional depreciation after 1975 by the sum of all the elements' additional depreciation after 1975 to determine the percentage used in Step 2.

Step 2. Multiply the percentage figured in Step 1 by the lesser of the additional depreciation after 1975 for the entire property or the gain from disposition of the entire property (the difference between the fair market value or amount realized and the adjusted basis).

Step 3. Multiply the result in Step 2 by the applicable percentage for the element.

Example.   You sold at a gain of $25,000 low-income housing property subject to the ordinary income rules of section 1250. The property consisted of four elements (W, X, Y, and Z).

Step 1. The additional depreciation for each element is: W - $12,000; X - None; Y - $6,000; and Z - $6,000. The sum of the additional depreciation for all the elements is $24,000.

Step 2. The depreciation deducted on element X was $4,000 less than it would have been under the straight line method. Additional depreciation on the property as a whole is $20,000 ($24,000 - $4,000). $20,000 is lower than the $25,000 gain on the sale, so $20,000 is used in Step 2.

Step 3. The applicable percentages to be used in Step 3 for the elements are: W - 68%; X - 85%; Y - 92%; and Z - 100%.

From these facts, the sum of the ordinary income for each element is figured as follows.

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Ordinary Income
W .50 $10,000 68% $ 6,800
X -0- -0- 85% -0-
Y .25 5,000 92% 4,600
Z .25 5,000 100% 5,000
Sum of ordinary income of separate elements $16,400

Installment Sales

If you report the sale of property under the installment method, any depreciation recapture under section 1245 or 1250 is taxable as ordinary income in the year of sale. This applies even if no payments are received in that year. If the gain is more than the depreciation recapture income, report the rest of the gain using the rules of the installment method. For this purpose, include the recapture income in your installment sale basis to determine your gross profit on the installment sale.

If you dispose of more than one asset in a single transaction, you must figure the gain on each asset separately so that it may be properly reported. To do this, allocate the selling price and the payments you receive in the year of sale to each asset. Report any depreciation recapture income in the year of sale before using the installment method for any remaining gain.

For a detailed discussion of installment sales, see Publication 537.

Gifts

If you make a gift of depreciable personal property or real property, you do not have to report income on the transaction. However, if the person who receives it (donee) sells or otherwise disposes of the property in a disposition subject to recapture, the donee must take into account the depreciation you deducted in figuring the gain to be reported as ordinary income.

For low-income housing, the donee must take into account the donor's holding period to figure the applicable percentage. See Applicable Percentage and its discussion Holding period under Section 1250 Property, earlier.

Part gift and part sale or exchange.   If you transfer depreciable personal property or real property for less than its fair market value in a transaction considered to be partly a gift and partly a sale or exchange and you have a gain because the amount realized is more than your adjusted basis, you must report ordinary income (up to the amount of gain) to recapture depreciation. If the depreciation (additional depreciation, if section 1250 property) is more than the gain, the balance is carried over to the transferee to be taken into account on any later disposition of the property. However, see Bargain sale to charity, later.

Example.   You transferred depreciable personal property to your son for $20,000. When transferred, the property had an adjusted basis to you of $10,000 and a fair market value of $40,000. You took depreciation of $30,000. You are considered to have made a gift of $20,000, the difference between the $40,000 fair market value and the $20,000 sale price to your son. You have a taxable gain on the transfer of $10,000 ($20,000 sale price minus $10,000 adjusted basis) that must be reported as ordinary income from depreciation. You report $10,000 of your $30,000 depreciation as ordinary income on the transfer of the property, so the remaining $20,000 depreciation is carried over to your son for him to take into account on any later disposition of the property.

Gift to charitable organization.   If you give property to a charitable organization, you figure your deduction for your charitable contribution by reducing the fair market value of the property by the ordinary income and short-term capital gain that would have resulted had you sold the property at its fair market value at the time of the contribution. Thus, your deduction for depreciable real or personal property given to a charitable organization does not include the potential ordinary gain from depreciation.

You also may have to reduce the fair market value of the contributed property by the long-term capital gain (including any section 1231 gain) that would have resulted had the property been sold. For more information, see Giving Property That Has Increased in Value in Publication 526, Charitable Contributions.

Bargain sale to charity.   If you transfer section 1245 or section 1250 property to a charitable organization for less than its fair market value and a deduction for the contribution part of the transfer is allowable, your ordinary income from depreciation is figured under different rules. First, figure the ordinary income as if you had sold the property at its fair market value. Then, allocate that amount between the sale and the contribution parts of the transfer in the same proportion that you allocated your adjusted basis in the property to figure your gain. (See Bargain Sale under Gain or Loss From Sales and Exchanges in chapter 1.) Report as ordinary income the lesser of the ordinary income allocated to the sale or your gain from the sale.

Example.   You sold section 1245 property in a bargain sale to a charitable organization and are allowed a deduction for your contribution. Your gain on the sale was $1,200, figured by allocating 20% of your adjusted basis in the property to the part sold. If you had sold the property at its fair market value, your ordinary income would have been $5,000. Your ordinary income is $1,000 ($5,000 × 20%) and your section 1231 gain is $200 ($1,200 - $1,000).

Transfers at Death

When a taxpayer dies, no gain is reported on depreciable personal property or real property transferred to his or her estate or beneficiary. For information on the tax liability of a decedent, see Publication 559, Survivors, Executors, and Administrators.

However, if the decedent disposed of the property while alive and, because of his or her method of accounting or for any other reason, the gain from the disposition is reportable by the estate or beneficiary, it must be reported in the same way the decedent would have had to report it if he or she were still alive.

Ordinary income due to depreciation must be reported on a transfer from an executor, administrator, or trustee to an heir, beneficiary, or other individual if the transfer is a sale or exchange on which gain is realized.

Example 1.   Janet Smith owned depreciable property that, upon her death, was inherited by her son. No ordinary income from depreciation is reportable on the transfer, even though the value used for estate tax purposes is more than the adjusted basis of the property to Janet when she died. However, if she sold the property before her death and realized a gain and if, because of her method of accounting, the proceeds from the sale are income in respect of a decedent reportable by her son, he must report ordinary income from depreciation.

Example 2.   The trustee of a trust created by a will transfers depreciable property to a beneficiary in satisfaction of a specific bequest of $10,000. If the property had a value of $9,000 at the date used for estate tax valuation purposes, the $1,000 increase in value to the date of distribution is a gain realized by the trust. Ordinary income from depreciation must be reported by the trust on the transfer.

Like-Kind Exchanges
and Involuntary
Conversions

A like-kind exchange of your depreciable property or an involuntary conversion of the property into similar or related property will not result in your having to report ordinary income from depreciation unless money or property other than like-kind, similar, or related property is also received in the transaction. For information on like-kind exchanges and involuntary conversions, see chapter 1.

Depreciable personal property.   If you have a gain from either a like-kind exchange or an involuntary conversion of your depreciable personal property, the amount to be reported as ordinary income from depreciation is the amount figured under the rules explained earlier (see Section 1245 Property), limited to the sum of the following amounts.

  • The gain that must be included in income under the rules for like-kind exchanges or involuntary conversions.
  • The fair market value of the like-kind, similar, or related property other than depreciable personal property acquired in the transaction.

Example 1.   You bought a new machine for $4,300 cash plus your old machine for which you were allowed a $1,360 trade-in. The old machine cost you $5,000 two years ago. You took depreciation deductions of $3,950. Even though you deducted depreciation of $3,950, the $310 gain ($1,360 trade-in allowance minus $1,050 adjusted basis) is not reported because it is postponed under the rules for like-kind exchanges and you received only depreciable personal property in the exchange.

Example 2.   You bought office machinery for $1,500 two years ago and deducted $780 depreciation. This year a fire destroyed the machinery and you received $1,200 from your fire insurance, realizing a gain of $480 ($1,200 - $720 adjusted basis). You choose to postpone reporting gain, but replacement machinery cost you only $1,000. Your taxable gain under the rules for involuntary conversions is limited to the remaining $200 insurance payment. All your replacement property is depreciable personal property, so your ordinary income from depreciation is limited to $200.

Example 3.   A fire destroyed office machinery you bought for $116,000. The depreciation deductions were $91,640 and the machinery had an adjusted basis of $24,360. You received a $117,000 insurance payment, realizing a gain of $92,640.

You immediately spent $105,000 of the insurance payment for replacement machinery and $9,000 for stock that qualifies as replacement property and you choose to postpone reporting the gain. $114,000 of the $117,000 insurance payment was used to buy replacement property, so the gain that must be included in income under the rules for involuntary conversions is the part not spent, or $3,000. The part of the insurance payment ($9,000) used to buy the nondepreciable property (the stock) also must be included in figuring the gain from depreciation.

The amount you must report as ordinary income on the transaction is $12,000, figured as follows.

1) Gain realized on the transaction ($92,640) limited to depreciation ($91,640) $91,640
2) Gain includible in income (amount not spent) $3,000
Plus: fair market value of property other than depreciable personal property (the stock) 9,000 12,000
Amount reportable as ordinary income (lesser of (1) or (2)) $12,000

If, instead of buying $9,000 in stock, you bought $9,000 worth of depreciable personal property similar or related in use to the destroyed property, you would only report $3,000 as ordinary income.

Depreciable real property.   If you have a gain from either a like-kind exchange or involuntary conversion of your depreciable real property, ordinary income from additional depreciation is figured under the rules explained earlier (see Section 1250 Property), limited to the greater of the following amounts.

  • The gain that must be reported under the rules for like-kind exchanges or involuntary conversions plus the fair market value of stock bought as replacement property in acquiring control of a corporation.
  • The gain you would have had to report as ordinary income from additional depreciation had the transaction been a cash sale minus the cost (or fair market value in an exchange) of the depreciable real property acquired.

The ordinary income not reported for the year of the disposition is carried over to the depreciable real property acquired in the like-kind exchange or involuntary conversion as additional depreciation from the property disposed of. Further, to figure the applicable percentage of additional depreciation to be treated as ordinary income, the holding period starts over for the new property.

Example.   The state paid you $116,000 when it condemned your depreciable real property for public use. You bought other real property similar in use to the property condemned for $110,000 ($15,000 for depreciable real property and $95,000 for land). You also bought stock for $5,000 to get control of a corporation owning property similar in use to the property condemned. You choose to postpone reporting the gain. If the transaction had been a sale for cash only, under the rules described earlier, $20,000 would have been reportable as ordinary income because of additional depreciation.

The ordinary income to be reported is $6,000, which is the greater of the following amounts.

  1. The gain that must be reported under the rules for involuntary conversions, $1,000 ($116,000 - $115,000) plus the fair market value of stock bought as qualified replacement property, $5,000, for a total of $6,000.
  2. The gain you would have had to report as ordinary income from additional depreciation ($20,000) had this transaction been a cash sale minus the cost of the depreciable real property bought ($15,000), or $5,000.

The ordinary income not reported, $14,000 ($20,000 - $6,000), is carried over to the depreciable real property you bought as additional depreciation.

Basis of property acquired.   If the ordinary income you have to report because of additional depreciation is limited, the total basis of the property you acquired is its fair market value (its cost, if bought to replace property involuntarily converted into money) minus the gain postponed.

If you acquired more than one item of property, allocate the total basis among the properties in proportion to their fair market value (their cost, in an involuntary conversion into money). However, if you acquired both depreciable real property and other property, allocate the total basis as follows.

  1. Subtract the ordinary income because of additional depreciation that you do not have to report from the fair market value (or cost) of the depreciable real property acquired.
  2. Add the fair market value (or cost) of the other property acquired to the result in (1).
  3. Divide the result in (1) by the result in (2).
  4. Multiply the total basis by the result in (3). This is the basis of the depreciable real property acquired. If you acquired more than one item of depreciable real property, allocate this basis amount among the properties in proportion to their fair market value (or cost).
  5. Subtract the result in (4) from the total basis. This is the basis of the other property acquired. If you acquired more than one item of other property, allocate this basis amount among the properties in proportion to their fair market value (or cost).

Example 1.   In 1986, low-income housing property that you acquired and placed in service in 1981 was destroyed by fire and you received a $90,000 insurance payment. The property's adjusted basis was $38,400, with additional depreciation of $14,932. On December 1, 1986, you used the insurance payment to acquire and place in service replacement low-income housing property.

Your realized gain from the involuntary conversion was $51,600 ($90,000 - $38,400). You chose to postpone reporting the gain under the involuntary conversion rules. Under the rules for depreciation recapture on real property, the ordinary gain was $14,932, but you did not have to report any of it because of the limit for involuntary conversions.

The basis of the replacement low-income housing property was its $90,000 cost minus the $51,600 gain you postponed, or $38,400. The $14,932 ordinary gain you did not report is treated as additional depreciation on the replacement property. When you dispose of the property, your holding period for figuring the applicable percentage of additional depreciation to report as ordinary income will have begun December 2, 1986, the day after you acquired the property.

Example 2.   John Adams received a $90,000 fire insurance payment for depreciable real property (office building) with an adjusted basis of $30,000. He uses the whole payment to buy property similar in use, spending $42,000 for depreciable real property and $48,000 for land. He chooses to postpone reporting the $60,000 gain realized on the involuntary conversion. Of this gain, $10,000 is ordinary income from additional depreciation but is not reported because of the limit for involuntary conversions of depreciable real property. The basis of the property bought is $30,000 ($90,000 - $60,000), allocated as follows.

  1. The $42,000 cost of depreciable real property minus $10,000 ordinary income not reported is $32,000.
  2. The $48,000 cost of other property (land) plus the $32,000 figured in (1) is $80,000.
  3. The $32,000 figured in (1) divided by the $80,000 figured in (2) is 0.4.
  4. The basis of the depreciable real property is $12,000. This is the $30,000 total basis multiplied by the 0.4 figured in (3).
  5. The basis of the other property (land) is $18,000. This is the $30,000 total basis minus the $12,000 figured in (4).

The ordinary income that is not reported ($10,000) is carried over as additional depreciation to the depreciable real property that was bought and may be taxed as ordinary income on a later disposition.

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