June and John were a gregarious couple who owned and operated a successful upscale restaurant in San Francisco. They not only owned the restaurant, but also the building in which it was located. While they loved their business, they were now in their late 50s and looking forward to retirement. As often happens, however, none of their three grown children had any interest in taking over the business.
Real Estate
Real Estate and the DST: Should You Sell Your Investment Real Estate Now?
f you’ve been keeping up with the news coming out of Washington, D.C., the past several months, you know that President Biden’s $1.8 trillion American Families Plan calls for raising the federal long-term capital gains rate from its current 20% to 39.6% if you earn more than $1 million per year. Ouch! As the owner of highly appreciated investment real estate, no one need tell you the enormous negative impact such a capital gains tax hike would have on you when you decide to sell one of these properties.
Case Studies: How the DST Benefits California Home and Business Owners
With the possibility of capital gains tax rates increasing in the near future, you face a risk that, when you sell a highly appreciated asset, an even larger portion of your sale proceeds will be eaten up in long term capital gains taxes. The Deferred Sales Trust (DST) to the rescue! If you’re a savvy investor, you may have used this unique, proprietary tax deferral strategy in the past when you sold a piece of highly appreciated investment real estate.
Hypothetical DST Scenarios: Commercial Real Estate in Orange County vs. Apartment Complex in San Diego
As you’ve likely already discovered, divesting yourself of substantially appreciated commercial real estate investments can be tricky at best. A straight sale exposes you to a huge long-term capital gains tax payment. A 1031 exchange has numerous rules and narrow time frames that can make it unfeasible. What to do?
2 Unique DST Applications You May Not Have Known About — Until Now
When you think about a Deferred Sales Trust, you likely think of it as a unique strategy for selling highly appreciated investment property while deferring capital gains taxes. But you may not realize that you can also use a DST as a business exit strategy and when selling your primary residence.