Under pre-Act law, the like-kind exchange rule provided that no gain or loss was recognized to the extent that property—which included a wide range of property from real estate to tangible personal property—held for productive use in the taxpayer's trade or business, or property held for investment purposes, is exchanged for property of a like-kind that also is held for productive use in a trade or business or for investment.

New law. Generally effective for transfers after Dec. 31, 2017, the rule allowing the deferral of gain on like-kind exchanges is modified to allow for like-kind exchanges only with respect to real property that is not held primarily for sale. However, under a transition rule, the pre-Act like-kind exchange rules apply to exchanges of personal property if the taxpayer has either disposed of the relinquished property or acquired the replacement property on or before Dec. 31, 2017.

January 26, 2018 12:00 pm