Cost Seg Building

A Blog About Tax Savings for Building Owners

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Commercial Brokers, Realtors and Insurance Brokers Should Use Cost Segregation to Grow their Business

November 29, 2022 /

My experience is that 8 out of 10 building owners aren’t aware of this incredible tax application that boosts their cash flow and lowers their taxes… commercial brokers, insurance brokers, tax and financial profressionals and property managers are all trying to reach buildling owners and yet few if any are having conversations about cost segregation. You don’t need to be an expert. Just ask if they’ve done it yet to their building. It’s a missed opportunity all the way around.

If you don’t ask, you’re missing out on potentially really helping a client. In some cases you might gain a new client because of it. Maybe you end up writing another policy or pick up more money to invest from them. Or maybe with the extra money they save they end up buying another building with you…or you pick up a new tax client. Plus you can get paid a referral if you join our referral program. It’s easy and costs you nothing. Contact me to join our program and let’s keep business and building owners in business and profitable! Note: financial services cannot be paid a referral due to regulations. However, let’s say you help someone save $50-$100k on their taxes…perhaps they will reinvest some of that tax savings with you buying financial / life insurance products.

Tenant Improvements – Should They Be Capitalized or Expensed?

November 29, 2022 /
Photo: John Murphy, Cost Seg Building

Dumpsters will often catch my attention 🙂 I wonder how many building owners who are paying for TI’s / Upfits in a building like this capitalize the improvements rather than expensing them? I don’t know anything in particular about this specific building. I don’t know what the upfit costs will be but it was stripped to the studs. Let’s say it’s $50-$75k to renovate this space? Would you capitalize it? Expense it? Let’s assume the owner has had this building in-service for at least one tax year. Since this is one of 4 units in this building, we would think expensing those improvements utlizing the Tangible Property Regulations would be the way to go.

If you happen to have a building where you think you may have capitalize improvements / TIs where perhaps they could have been expensed, feel free to reach out. We can help you figure that out at no cost. If it turns out you can and should do a capitalization to expense reversal you might be able to do it on your own…if you need our help, I would get you an estimate. BTW, these typically are absolutely monster tax savings or the owner 🙂

TI #TIs #tenantimprovements #upfit #interiorbuildout #commercialproperty #commercialbuilding #retail #retailstrip #stripcenter #taxes #taxsavings #TPRs #tangiblepropertyregulations #repairregs #capitaltoexpensereversal

Kansas City Based NorthPoint Development Plans Massive Industrial Park in Spartanburg, SC

November 29, 2022 /
Photo: NorthPoint Development / Upstate Business Journal

Money continues to flow into the Upstate of South Carolina as more companies and developers realize the value of having facilities here.

NorthPoint Development recently purchased 310 acres and plans to build a large industrial park in Spartanburg County called Spartan Enterprise Park.

More information about their development can be found in the Upstate Business Journal article. The developer is quoted, “NorthPoint Development is excited about the opportunity to bring our expertise to one of the fastest growing industrial markets in the country,” said NorthPoint Development Director of Industrial Leasing Nathan Brinker. “We have identified the Upstate as a prime market for investment due to its central location in the Southeast offering access to a large percentage of the population, connectivity to major regional transportation corridors and efficient delivery of goods via the state’s expanding inland and seaport network. Our assessments of this market show a rapidly growing population and corresponding favorable labor dynamics which companies look to when making expansion or relocation decisions. We look forward to working with local and regional economic development entities as well as the Colliers team to find the right tenants and bring new corporate investment to the Upstate.”

Dentists Can Save $100,000 On Taxes By Using Cost Segregation

November 8, 2022 /
Photo Credit: John Murphy

Dental buildings have really come a long way. We are seeing more and more of them with beautiful design and finishing. Many now cost between $1.5 – $2.0 million. That’s a big expense for anyone and especially for dentists who may well be continuing to pay for dental school loans.

If the ownership of the operating business and the LLC that owns the dental building are the same, the dentist can group these entities the first year they put the building into service. That allows the operating LLC to take advantage of the depreciation generated by the real estate LLC. The tax savings can be significant.

Many of these buildings will see 20-30% of the building cost or basis able to be depreciated in the first year. For buildings placed into service starting in 2023, the bonus depreciation drops from 100% to 80% so please note that.

Recently we saved this dentist well over $100,000 on their income taxes when we did an engineering-based cost segregation study for them.

Land Improvements Can Be Incredibly Valuable in Cost Segregation Studies

September 16, 2022 /

Everyone thinks about buildings when they think about depreciation and the benefits of cost segregation, but don’t forget about the massive positive impact land improvements can on your depreciation. It’s common that land improvements might be anywhere from 4-15% of your overall building cost or basis. Sometimes we’ll even see 25%+! With 100% bonus depreciation, let’s say you have a $1 million building….if 10% of the building cost is land improvements, you could potentially take a $100,000 deduction in year one of your ownership! That right there would be about a $30,000+ tax savings – i.e. the money stays in your bank account and not the IRS’s.

The IRS classifies land improvements as 15 year class life property. Depending upon the type of property, we will regularly see such land improvements as:

  • Parking lot / driveway
  • Parking lot striping and barriers
  • Sidewalks, patios and curbs
  • Site drainage
  • Exterior signage
  • Landscaping and irrigation
  • Retaining walls
  • Security light poles
  • Exterior fencing
  • Exterior dining enclosure
  • Exterior bollards
  • Dumpster enclosure
  • Pool
  • Docks

Site improvements can have a BIG impact on your depreciation and provide a big depreciation expense for building owners when they apply a cost segregation study. Remember the cost segregation study will separate out your property from it all being lumped together as either 39 year (commercial) or 27.5 year (residential investment). Property will be reclassified to 5, 7, 15, and 27.5 / 39 year property. Right now for properties purchased / in-service as of Sept. 28, 2017 – December 31, 2022 can take 100% bonus depreciation. Bonus depreciation is available for property with class lives of less than 20 years…so all your 5, 7 and 15 year property could be depreciated in year 1 of your ownership. That can provide a significant tax savings for owners. Depending upon the building, you might be able to immediately depreciate 10-30% of the overall building cost or basis.

For those who want to grind harder on the topic, here’s the official link to the IRS on how to depreciation property. It’s a comprehensive list on all types of property and class lives. Otherwise, if you’d like to talk with me about seeing if your property might be a good fit for cost segregation, please don’t hesitate to reach out. My information is available under the Contact tab above or connect with me on LinkedIn.

As always, please consult with your own tax advisor for your specific situation to see if a cost segregation study might be beneficial to you.

Cost Segregation for a Panera Bread Building – $100,000 Tax Savings

September 15, 2022 /
Photo Credit: John Murphy, Cost Seg Building

Cost segregation works pretty much on all commercial buildings. If the building cost is north of $175,000 or so, there are tax savings being left on the table if the owner does not segregate the building in to 5, 7, 15, and 39 year class lives which is what happens when you do an engineering-based cost segregation study.

What might one see for results in such a study for a Panera Bread commercial building? Well, the owner might save about $100,000 on his/her income taxes by doing a study. The cost of the study would be a small fraction of the overall savings.

Let’s say in this scenario we have the following:

Building Cost: $1,500,000

Increased Accumulated Depreciation: $310,000

Estimated Tax Savings @32% Federal Rate: $99,200

The building owner doesn’t have to write a check to the IRS for that $99,200. The money stays in his/her bank account and they can do with it as they see fit….remodel bathrooms, buy a new building, buy a new car, pay off debt, increase wages for employees, buy a short term rental, take some vacations….they money is there’s and remains with them. I don’t care how much money people have…they could have millions, but there hasn’t been a single person yet that I’ve come across who says they aren’t interested in keeping an extra $100,000. And it doesn’t have to be $100,000….we run scenarios for all kinds of property…let’s say you own a building that is only $300,000 but by doing an engineering-based cost segregation study, you might be able to save $15,000-$20,000 on your taxes. That’s real money and people would rather keep that money in their bank accounts rather than the IRS’s.

Note, the numbers above are estimated tax savings. Each study is different and we wouldn’t know the final results until the actual study is completed. A building owner’s tax situation and tax rate might be different. If they were in the 37% tax bracket their tax savings would be quite a bit higher. If they are in a lower bracket then the savings would be lower. As always, I can’t give tax advice. When considering cost segregation, get an estimate and then discuss it with your own tax professional to see if you can benefit from doing a study.

Why Commercial Brokers Should Offer Cost Segregation Services

September 14, 2022 /

Commercial brokers play a very important role in the ongoing development and improvement of a community. They are often in-the-know of what’s happening in a particular area…who’s developing what and which companies are moving in and/or expanding. They help business owners, building owners and investors of all kinds with sourcing or developing a building or project to suit the prospective owner’s needs. They often can help give recommendations on financing, inspections, engineering, surveying, insurance, renovations, construction etc. The one area they are weak in is in cost segregation.

Why should commercial brokers have a trusted source for cost segregation amongst their mix of other expert advisers whom they can readily share with a prospective client? It’s pretty simple….commercial brokers should introduce cost segregation to every client and have each building evaluated. There’s no cost to do this and the upside is significant certainly for the client. The commercial broker can also generate another income stream for his brokerage by partnering with us to deliver this service to his clients.

We know the upside for the client on cost segregation but why wouldn’t the commercial broker also participate in creating another revenue stream? Ask me about our referral program. It can help pay for some office lunches, outings and year end parties. But the bigger thing is that the broker will have helped his client maximize his/her building by saving a lot of money on taxes. The tax savings provided to the client might actually be enough to help that building owner go buy another building of which the broker may represent him/her on that and make another commission.

Remember, not every building or every building owner is going to need to actually do a cost segregation study. Some buildings aren’t profitable and maybe won’t be for some time. Some owners aren’t particularly profitable either and so they don’t need the tax deductions. However, every building should be evaluated so you at least have it on hand and can reference it each year as you review your particular tax situation for that year. Perhaps you don’t do cost segregation for a variety of reasons in 2022…maybe not even in 2023. But by 2024, it probably makes more sense. Well, a smart business owner, building owner and investor is going to know what that might look like for him or her. There’s no reason they should not have an estimate on hand and in their files. It should be part of a normal business and tax review process if not quarterly…at least annually.

Cost segregation will save big money for most owners. They might see between $30,000 – $70,000 in income tax savings per $1 million in building cost or basis. We can do studies on buildings with a cost or basis as low as about $175,000.

Lastly, I will say that as I speak with building owners, 8 or 9 out of 10 have not heard of cost segregation. Of those that might be familiar with it, there’s a lot of misperceptions as to it’s value vs. it’s cost. It’s very common for me to quote estimates that demonstrate a 10, 15, 20:1 return on their investment in the study. That’s a 1,000 – 2,000% return. Most commercial real estate delivers returns in the 5-8% range…we’re talking massive returns here with cost segregation compared to the investment in the study. The most likely way a building owner would hear about cost segregation would be through the commercial real estate broker. Please share the information…make an introduction and let’s help building owners maximize their buildings, lower their taxes and increase their cash flow.

Be sure to reach out and I’d love to help – John Murphy, 864-276-1448

Cost Segregation for Spartanburg Office Building Saves Owner $89,000 in Income Taxes

September 13, 2022 /
John Murphy – Cost Segregation – Spartanburg Office Building

It’s always a good day when I can deliver our engineering-based cost segregation study to a building owner to helpl him/her save money on their taxes. Remember, what we do is reclassify a building from 39 year straight line depreciation in to 5, 15 and 39 year class lives. This allows the owner to take a bigger depreciation expense earlier in the life of his/her ownership of the building. That translates in to paying lower income taxes…and in some cases, it eliminates your income tax liability for a while.

This was a gorgeous older building in Spartanburg. It goes by the name Warrior Duck. It’s a 3 floor office building. As you can see by the image above, we saved this owner nearly $90,000 in income taxes.

As with all of my articles, I am not given tax advise. Everyone’s tax situation is different and each building performs differently. Please consult with your own tax counsel when considering cost segregation.

What Is Cost Segregation for Building Owners? Blake Alguire Interviews John Murphy

September 13, 2022 /

Blake Alguire is a commercial real estate agent in the Upstate of South Carolina. He interviewed me recently about cost segregation for building owners and how they can save money on their taxes. It’s a short but informative 15 minute interview. It was a lot of fun to catch up with Blake! #costsegregation #taxsavings #buildingowners #commercialrealestate #realestateinvestors #shorttermrentals #commercialproperty #commercialbrokers

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