§1031 Exchange Timeline

Plan­ning should ide­al­ly begin before the relin­quished prop­er­ty clos­es.

Before Closing

Deter­mine whether a 1031 exchange is being con­sid­ered, con­sult tax advis­ers, select a Qual­i­fied Inter­me­di­ary, and begin eval­u­at­ing replace­ment-prop­er­ty alter­na­tives.

Closing Day

The relin­quished prop­er­ty is trans­ferred and the exchange peri­od begins.

Days 1–45

Qual­i­fy­ing replace­ment prop­er­ty gen­er­al­ly must be prop­er­ly iden­ti­fied in writ­ing.

Days 46–180

Com­plete due dili­gence and acquire the iden­ti­fied replace­ment prop­er­ty.

Exchange Deadline

Replace­ment prop­er­ty gen­er­al­ly must be received by the ear­li­er of 180 days after the relin­quished prop­er­ty is trans­ferred or the due date of the tax­pay­er’s fed­er­al return, includ­ing exten­sions, for that tax year.

After Closing

Report the exchange on IRS Form 8824 and con­tin­ue mon­i­tor­ing the replace­ment invest­ment.

Key Point: The 45-day and 180-day peri­ods run con­cur­rent­ly. Day 46 does not start a new 180-day peri­od.

Ref­er­ence Sources

• IRS — Instruc­tions for Form 8824

Impor­tant: This mate­r­i­al is for edu­ca­tion­al pur­pos­es only and is not tax, legal, account­ing, or invest­ment advice. Sec­tion 1031 out­comes depend on the tax­pay­er’s facts and com­pli­ance with applic­a­ble require­ments.