Fifteen questions, answered without hedging

An engineering analysis that identifies the components of a building that qualify as personal property or land improvements rather than structural components, prices each one, and assigns it the correct MACRS recovery period. The result is a depreciation schedule that reflects what you actually bought instead of a single 27.5 or 39-year line.

Between roughly 12% and 42% depending on property type. Warehouses sit at the low end, restaurants and grocery at the high end, apartments and offices in the middle. Our property type pages give the range for each.

Increasingly yes, because 100% bonus depreciation makes the first-year benefit much larger relative to the fee. A $400,000 rental reclassifying 20% produces around $80,000 of accelerated basis. Whether that is worth a study depends on whether you can use the deduction this year.

No. A look-back is a change in accounting method, made on Form 3115 with a section 481(a) catch-up on the current return.

To the placed-in-service date, as long as that is after 1986 and you still own the property. Once you sell, the opportunity closes.

A well-documented engineering study is routine and the IRS publishes the guide it uses to evaluate them. A study built on percentage rules of thumb without support is a different matter. We build to the published standard and include audit support in the fee.

The deduction is real either way, but it may not be usable this year. Passive losses offset passive income; excess suspends and carries forward, releasing when you dispose of the activity in a fully taxable transaction. Real estate professional status and the short-term rental participation rules are the two main routes to a currently usable loss. We screen this on the feasibility call before you spend anything.

Section 1245 components recapture as ordinary income to the extent of depreciation taken; the building and land improvements produce unrecaptured section 1250 gain capped at 25%. It is a timing and rate benefit, not a permanent exclusion. Full explanation.

Yes, and most of our work arrives that way. We deliver the study and the filing schedules to your preparer and answer their questions directly. If you would rather have both under one roof, our parent firm Shurek Accounting & Tax handles the return.

Four to six weeks from complete documents. Rush work around a deadline is often possible — tell us the date.

For most commercial property, yes — the site inspection is one of the elements the IRS looks for and it consistently finds things documents miss. Where travel is impractical we run a documented virtual inspection and disclose the method in the report.

Residential studies from $1,850, commercial from $4,900, Form 3115 look-backs from $1,200, portfolios quoted individually. Fixed fees, quoted in writing before work begins. Pricing detail.

Yes, though carryover basis complicates it and the analysis should be run alongside the exchange rather than after. Bring us in before the exchange closes if you can.

Inherited property generally takes a stepped-up basis at the date of death, which resets the depreciation schedule entirely. That is often an excellent moment for a study, because you are starting a fresh 27.5 or 39-year schedule on a much larger basis.

Yes. Send it over. Older studies frequently missed land improvements, ignored partial dispositions or leaned on percentage estimates. A review is inexpensive relative to what it sometimes finds.