Cost Segregation Services Inc.
A nationwide engineering
firm that only focuses on
Cost Segregation Studies.
Local offices throughout the United States.
We will do a free cost analysis to see if cost segregation is a benefit to you, and if not, we will walk away at no cost to you! That's how confident we are that it will put money in your bottom line today with little effort from you! This is truly your money to utilize now; you just need to know how to properly account for it.
Cost Segregation is in the news. Make sure you take a look at some recent national magazine articles.
Download our brochure and find out about the great benefits of Cost Segregation and how it can help you save money.
COMMERCIAL OWNERS
Learn about What Cost Segregation Studies
Can Do for You
At Cost Segregation Studies, we know how to help you increase your cash flow with important tax information. In the third quarter of 2006, the IRS allowed International House of Pancakes (IHOP™) a tax savings of more than $8.5 million, mostly due to reclassified depreciation on their commercial property. This was like found money for a corporation whose traditional financial wizards overlooked a little-used tax tool known as Cost Segregation.
What Is Cost Segregation?
To put it simply, Cost Segregation reclassifies vital portions of a building according to the length of their estimated life spans. Traditionally, everything in all commercial buildings, including the building itself, was normally depreciated over 39 years with no exceptions, and no matter how illogical. However, we all know that the carpeting, asphalt, specialty electrical, and the like all wear out long before 39 years. With the advent of Cost Segregation, each of these vital components can be dealt with individually, according to pre-set standards now allowed to be classified as personal property by the IRS. In fact, the founders of Cost Segregation Services helped set the standards for the initial court ruling. Who else is better qualified to re-evaluate any given building?
Tax Benefit
What came out in the court case was that the IRS recognized their potential liability in the matter and created what was tantamount to a "don't ask, don't tell" policy. For this reaso, the court had to create a starting point from which commercial property owners could claim accelerated depreciation. With this ruling, all commercial property and tenant improvements placed in service after January 1986 became eligible for the savings.
Not Some Risky Tax Scheme:
Before 1997, the IRS did their best to pretend Cost Segregation did not exist. But in that year they had to admit its validity in court. And in 1999, they issued a Legal Memorandum, which said that reclassification of assets into shorter periods would not be contested. In 2004, the IRS reaffirmed the methodology by issuing the Cost Segregation Audit Guide. Until recently, such studies were extremely costly. Further, it was difficult to find experienced engineers from a variety of disciplines who could perform such studies. Thanks to innovative industry leaders like Thomas Nelson of Cost Segregation Services, these evaluations have become much more practical.
It Makes Great Business Sense:
Owner's bottom-line savings, as much as 25% of the building's value, can be recouped within the first 5 years of ownership. Nelson's service is ideal for buildings valued at between $1 million and $50 million. These savings can be applied to office buildings, apartments, hotels, automobile dealerships, factories, warehouses, restaurants, and other establishments. The potential can be enormous when property is reclassified into an accelerated depreciation schedule. But each building must be viewed as a unique situation. That's why most tax people shied away from Cost Segregation if they even knew about it. This is a service all CPAs should know more about for the benefit of their clients.
What You Don't Know Can Hurt You:
Previously large clients used Cost Segregation studies of the Big Four CPA firms on their clients' largest properties.