Cost-segregation and 1031 CPA opinions?

[Allen S.]

Hello everyone...

I just sat down with a potential CPA to discuss my taxes and potential real estate issues.  She told me that she had plenty of experience with real estate and that many of her other clients have investment property, but a few things that she said stuck out to me as contrary to what I was expecting to hear.  Wondering if some of the CPAs who specialize in real estate can chime in.  (For reference, I currently own one single family home as a rental in addition to the condo that I live in.  My wife and I are looking at investing in medium size multi-family properties in the near future but don't own any yet)...

1- Cost segregation.  She said that you have to hire a specially certified company to do a cost segregation analysis.  This can run upwards of $25,000 and so she's never seen a situation where it's worth it.

2- 1031 exchanges.  She said that she doesn't typically like them.  They're rarely good for her clients.  She will run an analysis and they usually end up deciding to pay the taxes now rather than defer them to later.  Her main point with this is that capital gains taxes are extremely low right now and no one knows what they'll be in the distant future whenever we decide to pay the taxes on the final sale of whatever property we are holding.  

I understand a lot of this "depends", but I appreciate your thoughts!

[Brandon Hall]

Wow yeah I normally try to defend CPAs but not in this instance.

Cost seg studies will usually range from $3k to $8k. The higher end being large multi-million dollar properties. @Yonah Weiss. 

I am sure $25k cost seg studies exist but I’ve never seen one and we work with some pretty big syndicates.

I can get behind the 1031 being a bad idea for certain reasons but definitely 100% not because capital gain taxes are “low.” I mean are you kidding? Obamacare jacked the rate up by 3.8% if MAGI is over $250k.

So yes, you have cause to be concerned. Honestly I would avoid this person at all costs. They are providing a large amount of misinformation on relatively common (for CPAs) tax topics.