IRS says: No Capital Gains Tax for You if you sell your section 8 rentals!

[Val Csontos]

There is a catch of course, but that is normal when dealing with the IRS.  However if you have a long time Sec 8 rental, and you wouldn't mind to sell at ZERO Cap Rate this is your lucky day!!

Read the details on this directly from the quote below from the IRS publications:

Low-income housing. Low-income housing includes all the following types of residential rental property.

• Federally assisted housing projects if the mortgage is insured under section 221(d)(3) or 236 of the National Housing Act or housing financed or assisted by direct loan or tax abatement under similar provisions of state or local laws.
• Low-income rental housing for which a depreciation deduction for rehabilitation expenses was allowed.
• Low-income rental housing held for occupancy by families or individuals eligible to receive subsidies under section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937, as amended, or under provisions of state or local laws that authorize similar subsidies for low-income families.
• Housing financed or assisted by direct loan or insured under Title V of the Housing Act of 1949.

The applicable percentage for low-income housing is 100% minus 1% for each full month the property was held over 100 full months. If you have held low-income housing at least 16 years and 8 months, the percentage is zero and no ordinary income will result from its disposition

[Steven Hamilton II]

The little bit of information here is taken out of context. It is Publication 544 Page 29. under Section 1250 and Additional Depreciation. Most property is depreciated in a straight line fashion, therefore we are not particularly concerned about additional depreciation above and beyond the allowed amount. 

The actual information being referenced is from pages 29-30:



Section 1250 Property
Gain on the disposition of section 1250 property
is treated as ordinary income to the extent of
additional depreciation allowed or allowable on
the property. To determine the additional depreciation on section 1250 property, see Additional
Depreciation below.
Section 1250 property defined. This includes all real property that is subject to an allowance for depreciation and that is not and
never has been section 1245 property. It includes a leasehold of land or section 1250
property subject to an allowance for depreciation. A fee simple interest in land is not included
because it is not depreciable.
If your section 1250 property becomes section 1245 property because you change its use,
you can never again treat it as section 1250
property.
Additional Depreciation
If you hold section 1250 property longer than 1
year, the additional depreciation is the actual
depreciation adjustments that are more than the
depreciation figured using the straight line
method. For a list of items treated as depreciation adjustments, see Depreciation and amortization under Gain Treated as Ordinary Income,
earlier. For the treatment of unrecaptured section 1250 gain, see Capital Gains Tax Rate,
later.
If you hold section 1250 property for 1 year
or less, all the depreciation is additional depreciation.
You will not have additional depreciation if
any of the following conditions apply to the
property disposed of.
• You figured depreciation for the property
using the straight line method or any other
method that does not result in depreciation
that is more than the amount figured by the
straight line method; you held the property
longer than 1 year; and, if the property was
qualified property, you made a timely election not to claim any special depreciation
allowance. In addition, if the property was
in a renewal community, you must not
have elected to claim a commercial revitalization deduction for property placed in
service before January 1, 2010.
• The property was residential low-income
rental property you held for 162/3 years or
longer. For low-income rental housing on
which the special 60-month depreciation
for rehabilitation expenses was allowed,
the 162/3 years start when the rehabilitated
property is placed in service.
• You chose the alternate ACRS method for
the property, which was a type of 15-, 18-,
or 19-year real property covered by the
section 1250 rules.
• The property was residential rental property or nonresidential real property placed
in service after 1986 (or after July 31,
1986, if the choice to use MACRS was
made); you held it longer than 1 year; and,
if the property was qualified property, you
made a timely election not to claim any
special depreciation allowance. These
properties are depreciated using the
straight line method. In addition, if the
property was in a renewal community, you
must not have elected to claim a commercial revitalization deduction.


Applicable Percentage
The applicable percentage used to figure the
ordinary income because of additional depreciation depends on whether the real property you
disposed of is nonresidential real property, residential rental property, or low-income housing.
The percentages for these types of real property are as follows.
Nonresidential real property. For real property that is not residential rental property, the
applicable percentage for periods after 1969 is
100%. For periods before 1970, the percentage
is zero and no ordinary income because of additional depreciation before 1970 will result from
its disposition.
Residential rental property. For residential
rental property (80% or more of the gross income is from dwelling units) other than low-income housing, the applicable percentage for
periods after 1975 is 100%. The percentage for
periods before 1976 is zero. Therefore, no ordinary income because of additional depreciation
before 1976 will result from a disposition of residential rental property.
Page 29 of 41 Fileid: … tions/P544/2018/A/XML/Cycle04/source 13:46 - 28-Feb-2019
The type and rule above prints on all proofs including departmental reproduction proofs. MUST be removed before printing.
Chapter 3 Ordinary or Capital Gain or Loss for Business Property Page 29
Low-income housing. Low-income housing
includes all the following types of residential
rental property.
• Federally assisted housing projects if the
mortgage is insured under section 221(d)
(3) or 236 of the National Housing Act or
housing financed or assisted by direct loan
or tax abatement under similar provisions
of state or local laws.
• Low-income rental housing for which a depreciation deduction for rehabilitation expenses was allowed.
• Low-income rental housing held for occupancy by families or individuals eligible to
receive subsidies under section 8 of the
United States Housing Act of 1937, as
amended, or under provisions of state or
local laws that authorize similar subsidies
for low-income families.
• Housing financed or assisted by direct
loan or insured under Title V of the Housing Act of 1949.
The applicable percentage for low-income
housing is 100% minus 1% for each full month
the property was held over 100 full months. If
you have held low-income housing at least 16
years and 8 months, the percentage is zero and
no ordinary income will result from its disposition.

So,  as you can see it is a sub section of a subsection entirely taken out of context.