Every rule that can cost you the deferral.
A 1031 is not complicated in principle. It is unforgiving in execution. These are the specific rules, deadlines and structures that decide whether an exchange holds, written plainly and without the hedging you get from people who are worried about being quoted.
The two that decide most outcomes.
If you read nothing else, read these. Between them they account for the majority of exchanges that fail.
The 45/180-day clock, and the three identification rules
Both deadlines start the day your sale closes and run at the same time, which is not how most people picture it. Covers the three-property rule, the 200% rule, the 95% rule, the Q4 filing-deadline trap that quietly shortens 180 days, and what happens when you miss.
Read it →Boot: how a tax-free exchange ends up partly taxable
You followed the deadlines, closed on time, and still owe tax. Boot is why. Cash boot, mortgage boot, and the debt-replacement rule that catches people who trade into a cheaper building or pay off a loan along the way.
Read it →When the standard exchange doesn’t fit.
Buying before you sell, and building during the exchange
When the replacement appears before your sale closes, or the building needs work before it is worth owning. Parking under Rev. Proc. 2000-37, the rule against owning both at once, and why these structures usually die on financing rather than on tax.
Read it →The 1031 Countdown Kit
Enter your closing date and get your actual day-45 and day-180 dates, the checkpoints between them, and a warning if your tax-filing date cuts the 180 short. Ten seconds, no email required for the dates.
Open the tool →Being written.
Each of these answers a question we get asked in almost every exchange review. If one of them is the thing standing between you and a decision, ask us directly rather than waiting for it to publish.
These are educational explainers, not tax advice, and they describe general rules rather than your situation. Whether any of it applies to you depends on your actual facts, your documentation and current law. Every number that ends up on a return here is confirmed by the CPA who signs it.
Reading is cheaper than a wrong assumption.
Twenty minutes on your property and your timeline. You will leave knowing whether an exchange is worth doing, which rules actually bind in your situation, and what has to happen before you list. Including when the honest answer is that a 1031 is not the right move for you.