Sold a 356 and used a 1031, as CPA or car owner?

[Tom Coughlin]

I will be selling a car and in order to afford the car I want, the only way it will work is if I can defer the tax on the gain related to the sale.

My CPA wife insists that if I am to use a 1031 she needs to see written proof from the IRS or the AICPA that it is allowed and will not “blow up” in our faces.

If you have done a 1031 either by selling your 356, or as a CPA for a 356 owner, and know of some acceptable written proof from the IRS or AICPA, please send me an email.

My dream 356 depends on doing a 1031, so "Please help!" TLC

[George Alspaugh]

Tom- Sports Car Market magazine had a write-up on 1031 exchanges with cars two months ago. Check their website under legal files. It is fairly involved, and requires an accommodater to handle the funds/titles. There is also a limited amount of time between the sale of your car and your designation of cars you want to purchase with the sale proceeds. It is spelled out in the IRS Code. Good luck!

[Mark Roth]

Why do you need to report the gain? Will you receive a 1099?

[Tom Coughlin]

It is my choice to do this-let's call it "marriage maintenance". I am aware of the complications and details of a 1031. The complications are not what I am asking about.

What I need is somebody who has done a 1031 and is a CPA. Or, a CPA who has done a 1031 for a client. A CPA or a lawyer who has done a 1031 and is a tax expert with knowledge of letter rulings and knows of any written IRS ruling that shows the IRS will allow the swap is needed.

I appreciate your thoughts and comments but I am looking for something very specific. I hope everybody understands. TLC

[C J Murray]

Tom, I have done this with real estate. I have read the SCM article about doing a 1031 with cars. It's simple and legal IF you use an intermediary that specializes in doing 1031s. You need to have your wife talk directly to the 1031 specialist company.

One thing to remember is that you are not avoiding tax but that you are rather deferring the tax. Government has it's methods and tends to change the tax rates often so if you plan to sell in your lifetime then the advantages are questionable other than the fact that you had the use of, the pleasure of, having your money to enjoy it's use to own a pleasurable car. In the end(you may be dead by then) the government always wins but I wouldn't give the bastards one penny more, one minute sooner than I had to by law.

Cliff

[Tom Coughlin]

CJ, I agree with you on all that you write except having my wife talk to a 1031 company.

Marriage (and this one, unlike my first is a very happy 30 year one) works in strange and complicated ways, and I don't know how this will turn out but my guess is that marital happiness is worth more than deferring some tax.

Please send me an A cabriolet (driver, not show) that I can afford after paying the tax on my gain from selling my car. TLC

[Adam Wright]

Tom-
Pick one, you can choose! Very affordable.

[Tom Coughlin]

Adam: It's a deal, just throw in a 250 lbs. of sheet metal and a TIG welder and i'm good to go.

But wait, I need to be able to drive it in the summer of 2015, since at my age there is a finite number of summer days left for 356 driving enjoyment. TLC

[Jim Breazeale]

I have never quite understood why the government thinks they should tax the gain on the sale of a personal automobile ( a one in a million transaction) and not let one declare a loss when a car is sold at a loss.

Jim

[Jim Nelson]

I have never quite understood why the government thinks they should tax the gain on the sale of a personal automobile ( a one in a million transaction) and not let one declare a loss when a car is sold at a loss.

Jim

Or limit capital losses to $3000/year. What's up with that?

[Steve Harrison]

Make it a cash sale,....and a cash purchase.
A little scary for a few hours (cue the Adam story with the picture of the pile of money).
But I guess it probably won't fly with a CPA wife.

[Gerry McCarthy]

All:
In contemplating any of the above, C.J. has made the key observation. "The government ALWAYS wins" beware. Explaining a cash transaction, that the MAN stumbles upon, can be very painful.

[Tom Coughlin]

Gerry and Steve:

Regarding a cash transaction it would be the perfect method if I needed something for birth control.

If I were to do a cash deal, my getting screwed would rely solely on the IRS, and marital bliss would be a totally dead issue. TLC

[Adam Wright]

Steve,
this one?

[C J Murray]

Our founders left England because of taxation like this but now we are right back into unfair taxation. The voters are stupid and the politicians are greedy. That covers "why".

Now, reality. If you sell your Carrera Speedster to a guy for cash and claim that he paid you $5000 then he has to pay capital gains(when he sells) on the actual purchase price minus the $5000 reported. He would have to be pretty stupid to do that. The problem is the title transfer, a public record. I bet the IRS is looking closely at collector car transactions with all the publicity the prices are getting.

When I started to collect my cars many years ago I expected to be able to sell them off a little at a time as needed without tax issues but I think that when I sell my very nice pushrod Speedster that I paid $8500 for in 1994 needing restoration that the IRS will very likely demand well over $50,000 for all the great things they do for me. All these years they pissed away the money I gave them but they will be back for more and more and more until I die and then they take the rest.

My advice is to save every invoice you ever paid that is related to any car that you ever owned and to assign that cost to reduce the tax. If you choose to take cash and not report it then keep the possible tax liability aside to pay promptly if caught. I wouldn't do it because I'm too pretty for jail.

I wonder if a cash buyer from another country would make things go more "smoothly". How big of a mattress do I need?