A Blog About Tax Savings for Building Owners

Category: 179D

179D Tax Loophole – Buildings Started in ’21-’22 and Completed in ’23-’24 Might Qualify for $5/SF Deduction

Building Owners: if you started construction on a new building in 2021 or 2022 and it got completed in 2023 or 2024, it’s quite probable that it might qualify for up to $5/SF 179D Energy Efficiency Tax Deduction. This is what we call a sweet spot. Others migth call it a loophole. There’s a gap in the tax code so that you don’t have to qualify for the new highly restrictive apprenticeship rules or the prevailing wage rules.

If your building is 40,000 SF it might qualify. All kinds of buildings might qualify…strip centers, industrial, office, multi-family 4 stories or more, senior housing, student housing etc. If a public building was built or a non-profit (i.e. church, YMCA, school, library etc) this deduction might be able to be taken by one of the design firms. This is one of the craziest tax deductions in the history of mankind so you should check it out if you are a designer or architect.

What does this translate into? Well, let’s say you built a 50,000 SF industrial building / flex building. If you get $5/SF that’s a $250,000 tax deduction. The other point is this comes off the 39 year class life line…we’re all used to taking the 5 and 15 year life but this is 39 year. It’s a BIG DEAL.

Here’s the other qualifier…you have to be the one who built this or had it built by a contractor. This does not work if a developer built a spec building and immediately sold it. The deduction doesn’t work for the developer and it doesn’t work for the next owner. So if you are building and developing for your own use or investment, this is an incredible deduction for you. How many people are taking this deduction? Not a lot.

Let me know if you have a building and would like us to evaluate it. We study these kinds of properties like with do with cost segregation.
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John Murphy CSSI

179D Energy Efficient Tax Deduction – Benefits 39 Year Class Life Property

New warehouses are great for 179D Energy Efficiency Tax Deduction

179D Energy Efficiency Tax Deduction

There are many nuances and variables with this tax deduction for commercial building owners and it’s not quite that easy to say who and how one qualifies for this. The laws changed recently which do affect buildings placed initially into service in 2023 / 2024. It used to be owners could get up to $1.80/SF for a tax deduction but now it’s been revised upward to $5/SF. Here’s the official IRS web page for the 179D deduction.

It’s really designed for buildings with about 40,000 SF or more given the math between the cost of the study and the tax deduction. It might make sense at 30-35,000.

But let’s say you have a 100,000 SF building. It might qualify for up to $5/SF which would be a $500,000 tax deduction. The interesting thing is this deduction is not subject to the current bonus depreciation schedule so you get 100% of this tax deduction. The other thing that I think is very powerful is this deduction hits your depreciation schedule and reduces the 39 year class life property. Most of us are used to the 5 and 15 year class life deductions with cost segregation and the use of bonus depreciation. This hits the 39 year line…nothing hits the 39 year line unless it’s 179D or a partial asset disposition.

This works if you are the initial owner / developer of the building. If you are the second, third, fourth owner etc., it does not work unless you’ve done some significant improvements including lighting, HVAC, building envelop and/or roof. But I know there are some significant buildings out there where those kinds of renovations are being done. They always should get a cost segregation study done for those improvements but you should also evaluate 179D.
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