Final Like-Kind Exchange Rules Bend to Critics’ Demands (2)

IRS and Treasury Department officials yielded to business groups’ push to broaden the scope of property that still qualifies for tax-favored like-kind exchange treatment.

In final rules (T.D.9935); RIN: 1545-BP02) released Monday, officials reversed their stances on the extent to which state and local laws should be taken into account and on whether machinery and other fixtures should count as real property.

The 2017 tax law narrowed like-kind exchange treatment—in which sellers of a piece of property can delay tax on the profits from the sale if they roll the proceeds into the purchase of something of ...