Depreciation recovery · cost segregation · nationwide
We find the depreciation your return left behind.
Missed bonus. Improvements parked on 39-year schedules. Whole buildings on one straight line. We analyze what you bought, what you built and what your schedule already says — then pull forward every deduction the law allows. Cost segregation is how; recovered tax is the point.
Move the slider and pick a type — the split and the first-year number update live. Figures assume the permanent 100% bonus rules and are an illustrative planning range, not a quote. Your building's real numbers come from the engineering.
The idea, in plain English
Carpet, parking, wiring, cabinets, landscaping. None of it lasts 39 years, and the tax code knows it.
Instead of 39. Someone just has to prove which parts — and what they cost. That proof is an engineering study.
Often six figures of deductions pulled forward. Owned it for years? One form catches you up — no amended returns.
Is this you?
Thirty seconds of honesty before you spend twenty minutes with us.
Worth a call if…
- You own commercial or rental property with $500K+ of building basis
- You're paying real tax — this only helps if there's tax to defer
- You bought, built or renovated any time since the late '80s
- You plan to hold for a few more years
Probably not, honestly, if…
- You're selling within a year or two — recapture eats the benefit
- Your losses would just sit suspended and you'd rather not wait
- The building basis is small enough that the fee wouldn't clear
If that's you, we'll say so on the free call and save you the fee.
From delivered studies
Real numbers, real buildings. Names withheld.
≈$547,000 refunded on depreciation that was already on the schedule
A $1.5M improvement to a commercial property sat correctly listed as 15-year property — with the bonus depreciation it qualified for never claimed. We caught it inside the amendment window, amended the returns, and the owner received a refund of approximately $547,000. Nothing was restructured. Someone just read the schedule.
42% of basis accelerated
$1.28M purchase. After carving chattel homes and goodwill out of basis, $226K moved into 5 and 15-year classes — roads, utility laterals, pedestals, park-owned homes.
36% into 5 & 15-year lives
$827K purchase with a small apartment building on site. $61K of basis bonus-eligible in year one under the permanent 100% rules.
$142K reclassified to 5-year
$602K depreciable basis. Cabinetry, flooring, appliances, dedicated electrical — 24% of the property pulled off the 27.5-year schedule, component by component.
Figures taken directly from studies we delivered. Identifying details withheld for client privacy. Your building's numbers come from your building's engineering.
Cost segregation studies
A full engineering-based study: site inspection, component takeoff, cost allocation and a bound report that stands on its own in an examination. Commercial and residential, any asset class, any state.
How a study works → Service 02Form 3115 look-back
Own it for years and never accelerated anything? We compute the section 481(a) adjustment and prepare the method change so every missed deduction lands on your current return. No amended returns.
Catch up missed depreciation → Service 03Portfolio & fixed-asset review
Ten properties or a hundred. We model once, apply across similar assets, identify partial dispositions on replaced components, and clean up schedules that drifted years ago.
Packages and pricing →The arithmetic
A deduction in year one is worth more than the same deduction in year thirty.
That is the entire premise. Nothing about a cost segregation study creates a deduction you were not entitled to — it moves deductions forward, and money moved forward is money you can deploy.
Since the 2025 legislation restored 100% bonus depreciation permanently for property acquired and placed in service after 19 January 2025, every dollar reclassified to a 5, 7 or 15-year life is generally deductible in full the year the property goes into service. There is no phase-down waiting on the other side of this one.
Use the estimator to see the shape of it, then let us build the real number.
Planning estimator
Rough out the number before you call
Planning ranges only, drawn from studies of comparable buildings and assuming 100% bonus depreciation applies. Real results depend on your building's actual components, your basis allocation and whether passive activity rules let you use the deduction this year. Not tax advice.
Property types
Every building reclassifies differently.
A restaurant and a warehouse are not the same problem. Each page below lists the actual components we pull out, the recovery period each one lands on, and a worked example on a building of that shape.
Office buildings
Typically 16–26% of basis reclassified to 5, 7 and 15-year life.
See the components →
Retail & strip centers
Typically 20–32% of basis reclassified to 5, 7 and 15-year life.
See the components →
Warehouse & industrial
Typically 12–24% of basis reclassified to 5, 7 and 15-year life.
See the components →
Restaurants
Typically 26–42% of basis reclassified to 5, 7 and 15-year life.
See the components →
Medical & dental offices
Typically 24–36% of basis reclassified to 5, 7 and 15-year life.
See the components →
Hotels & hospitality
Typically 24–38% of basis reclassified to 5, 7 and 15-year life.
See the components →
Self-storage facilities
Typically 24–36% of basis reclassified to 5, 7 and 15-year life.
See the components →
Manufacturing facilities
Typically 22–40% of basis reclassified to 5, 7 and 15-year life.
See the components →How it runs
Five steps, four to six weeks, one report you can hand to an examiner.
The IRS's own audit guide describes thirteen principal elements of a quality study. We build to that standard on every engagement, whether the building cost four hundred thousand dollars or forty million.
Twenty minutes, no fee. We look at basis, placed-in-service date, entity and your tax posture, and tell you the expected range and whether it clears the fee.
Closing statement, appraisal, depreciation schedule, and whatever construction records exist — drawings, AIA pay applications, change orders, invoices.
Photograph and measure the property, take off components, and record conditions. Where travel is not practical we run a documented virtual inspection.
Direct takeoff where records permit, published cost data where they do not. Every component is priced, classified, and tied to authority.
A bound report with the asset detail, legal citations and photos, plus the Form 3115 or Form 4562 schedules your preparer needs.
The study is one piece. We can handle the rest of the return.
Deprecio is part of the Shurek Accounting & Tax family of brands. If you want the study and the tax work under one roof — the return, the Form 3115, entity structure, quarterly estimates, multi-state filings — that is a single engagement, not a hand-off between two firms.
Writing
The stuff we wish every owner knew before they called.
Written for owners and the CPAs who serve them. No gated PDFs, no lead magnets — just what we've learned in the field.
What is cost segregation, in plain language
A building is not one asset. A study is the engineering work that proves it, component by component.
Read →Cost Segregation BasicsIs a cost segregation study worth it? The honest threshold
The old rule of thumb was a million dollars of basis. Bonus depreciation moved it. Here is where it sits now.
Read →Cost Segregation BasicsWhat actually happens during a cost segregation study
Five stages, four to six weeks, and a specific list of things we will ask you for.
Read →Cost Segregation BasicsWhat a cost segregation study costs, and why we will not take a percentage
Fixed fees, what drives them, and the reason contingent pricing is a bad idea for both of us.
Read →Cost Segregation BasicsDoes a cost segregation study increase audit risk?
The IRS publishes the guide it uses to evaluate these studies. Build to it and the answer is largely no.
Read →Cost Segregation BasicsWhen to run a cost segregation study — and the one deadline that is absolute
Best case is the year of acquisition. Worst case is never, because you sold.
Read →Questions owners actually ask
Is cost segregation legal, or is it aggressive tax planning?
It is neither new nor aggressive. The authority runs back to Hospital Corporation of America v. Commissioner in 1997, and the IRS publishes its own Cost Segregation Audit Techniques Guide describing what a quality study contains. What matters is method: an engineering-based study with documented takeoffs and cited authority is routine. A rule-of-thumb percentage applied without support is the thing that draws attention.
Do I have to amend prior returns to catch up missed depreciation?
No. If you have owned the property for more than a year and have been depreciating it on a straight-line schedule, you change your accounting method by filing Form 3115 with your current return. Every dollar of depreciation you should have taken since you placed the property in service comes forward as a single catch-up adjustment in the current year. No amended returns.
What does a study cost?
Residential studies generally run from the low four figures; commercial studies scale with size and complexity. Every engagement starts with a free feasibility review that gives you an expected benefit range before you commit to anything. If the numbers do not clear the fee, we will tell you that. See pricing and packages.
What happens when I sell the property?
Depreciation on 5 and 7-year personal property is recaptured as ordinary income under section 1245 to the extent of gain; 15-year land improvements and building depreciation fall under section 1250 rules. Acceleration is a timing benefit plus a rate and time-value benefit, not a permanent exclusion — and if the property passes through an estate or a 1031 exchange, the analysis changes again. We model the exit before you file, not after. See depreciation recapture.
Can you work with my existing CPA?
Most of our work arrives that way. We deliver the study, the asset detail and the Form 3115 or Form 4562 schedules directly to your preparer and take their questions. If you would rather have the study and the return under one roof, Shurek Accounting & Tax handles the full engagement.
Is it too late if I bought the property years ago?
Almost certainly not. A study can look back to any property placed in service after 1986 that you still own. Owners who bought in 2015 and have been on a straight-line schedule ever since are frequently the best candidates, because a decade of missed acceleration comes forward at once.
No-cost feasibility review
Find out what your building is hiding.
A feasibility review is free and takes about twenty minutes. Bring the closing statement and the depreciation schedule; we will tell you plainly whether a study pays for itself.