By Andrew Smith, Baker Newman Noyes, Tax Principal
The “like-kind exchange” rules housed in Internal Revenue Code Section 1031 allow taxpayers to defer gain on the sale of a business or investment property if they reinvest in a similar property within a specified time. Many transactions qualify, and regardless of complexity or size, qualifying exchanges have the same effect: deferral of taxable gain or loss, and deferral of related taxes.
The popularity of §1031 transactions dropped in 2008 when the economy and property values dropped, because…