How It Works

Property documentation first. Tax decisions second.

We organize the property facts, classify eligible components and prepare depreciation schedules so your CPA has a clear, sourced package to evaluate.

The Core Idea

A rental building is not always one depreciation category.

Cost segregation separates qualifying components from the building structure and assigns applicable recovery periods under the Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System.

Recovery period	General category	Illustrative components
5 year	Personal property	Certain appliances, removable floor coverings, window treatments and qualifying furniture
7 year	Personal property	Certain furniture, fixtures or assets not included in another applicable class
15 year	Land improvements	Certain driveways, walkways, fencing, landscaping and exterior lighting
27.5 or 39 year	Real property	Structural building components; the applicable period depends on the property’s tax classification and use

Examples are illustrative. Classification depends on the asset’s facts, function, attachment, use and applicable authority.

Your Package

What the $395 service includes.

1. Evidence File

Property information, acquisition and in-service facts, land allocation, documents, photographs and owner confirmations.

2. Classification

Component inventory, cost allocations, recovery periods and supporting references.

3. Schedules

Annual depreciation calculations, applicable bonus treatment, PDF report and CPA spreadsheet.

Quality-control boundary: unusual construction, incomplete records or unsupported allocations may require additional documentation or referral to an engineering-based provider. If the property is outside our scope, we will tell you before accepting the order.

Bonus Depreciation

Potentially powerful, but not automatically usable.

Qualifying short-life assets acquired and placed in service after January 19, 2025 may be eligible for 100% bonus depreciation under current federal law. Different rules may apply to earlier placed-in-service dates, elections, used-property acquisition requirements and state returns.

What the study addresses

Eligible component classifications
Depreciable basis allocations
Recovery periods and conventions
Applicable depreciation schedules

What your CPA determines

Whether losses are currently deductible
Passive or nonpassive activity treatment
Material-participation consequences
Accounting-method and Form 3115 treatment
State conformity and future recapture considerations

Illustrative Example

Acceleration is a timing comparison.

Assume a rental is purchased for $400,000 and $80,000 is reasonably allocated to nondepreciable land. The starting building basis would generally be $320,000 before considering eligible acquisition costs, prior depreciation, improvements and other adjustments. If property-specific analysis allocates a portion to shorter-life assets, those amounts may be depreciated more quickly than the structural building balance.

This does not mean the accelerated amount automatically offsets wages, retirement distributions or other income. The usable tax result depends on activity classification, participation, at-risk and passive-loss rules, elections and the rest of the taxpayer’s return. Future disposition may also involve depreciation recapture.

See whether your property is in scope.

Complete the free eligibility check before providing detailed tax or property information.

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