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COST SEGREGATION

Most buildings are depreciated over 27.5 or 39 years. That's the default — not the requirement.

A cost segregation study breaks a property into its actual components and reclassifies everything that qualifies as personal property or land improvements into 5-, 7-, and 15-year lives. Cabinetry, specialty electrical, flooring, site work, landscaping, parking, dedicated HVAC — items that carry real cost and short lives, buried in a single building basis. Reclassifying them front-loads depreciation into the years you own the property, which means deductions now instead of decades from now.

The effect is time value of money, not magic. You're accelerating deductions you were entitled to anyway. But with 100% bonus depreciation available again on qualifying property, that acceleration is worth considerably more than it was a few years ago.

You don't have to catch it in year one. For a property already placed in service, we can perform a look-back study and claim the entire missed depreciation as a catch-up adjustment on your current return — no amended returns required. We also identify retired components for partial asset disposition elections, so demolished assets come off the books instead of depreciating alongside their replacements.

Our studies are engineering-based and built to the standards set out in the IRS Cost Segregation Audit Techniques Guide: component takeoffs, cost allocations, and a documented report supporting every reclassification. If your return is examined, the file is ready.

Cost segregation isn't right for every property. Short holding periods, passive loss limitations, and depreciation recapture on sale can all change the math. We'll run a no-cost benefit estimate before you commit to anything, and if the numbers don't justify the study, we'll tell you.

Ask us what your building is actually worth in deductions.

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