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Know What Your Sale Costs You
Before You Sell It

A fixed-scope analysis of a disposition you haven't closed yet.

It computes the tax on the sale you're contemplating, breaks that gain down by character, and maps how much capital you'd need to redeploy, and into what, to offset it. One engagement, one flat fee, no retainer.

Book a Fit Call See a Sample Output

Free fit call. If this isn't the right analysis for your situation, you'll hear that first.

$2,500
Flat Fee
10 Days
Turnaround
2 Calls
Included
3
Deliverables

First, the Name

Why It's Called
the Lazy 1031

This is not a Section 1031 exchange. There is no qualified intermediary, no 45-day identification, and no 180-day clock. It's a passive loss strategy that reaches a similar destination by a different mechanism, which is why people call it the lazy version.

The gain is still recognized. What changes is whether there's anything left to tax after a fresh first-year depreciation loss lands against it. If you want the mechanics before the engagement, start with the complete Lazy 1031 investor guide, then read why a 1031 is usually the second-best move.

The right time to model a disposition is 12 to 24 months before execution, not at closing.

Matt Hamilton, CPA

The Problem

Most Investors Find Out What a Sale Cost Them
After It Already Closed

By then the only decision left is how to pay it. Everything that actually changes the number expires at closing: what you redeploy into, how much, and which tax year the sale lands in.

The math isn't something you can do from a webinar or a blog post. It depends on your basis, your suspended passive losses, and how much of your gain is depreciation recapture versus capital gain. Those three inputs move the answer by six figures, and a generalist preparer won't have them until the return is already being filed.

If you've never seen your exit modeled by character, two pieces are worth reading first: Your Exit Gain Is Taxed in Three Buckets and Your Exit Tax Bill Is Bigger Than You Think. Most sellers model the whole thing at 15 to 20% and are wrong by a wide margin.

Who It Is For

Investors Sitting on a Gain
They Haven't Modeled

One qualifier, stated up front. If you actively ran the business or property you're selling, the tax treatment is different and this strategy may not apply to you. Say so on the fit call. You'll get a straight answer for free rather than a bill and bad news. For the underlying rules, see the passive activity loss rules and why a legitimate loss can still land in the wrong bucket.

What You Get

Three Deliverables. Two Calls.
Ten Business Days.

Gain Computation

Your projected gain, split by character: Section 1245 ordinary recapture, unrecaptured Section 1250 gain at 25%, and Section 1231 or capital gain. Includes the suspended passive losses currently trapped in the position and how much of that releases on disposition, plus net investment income tax exposure.

Why it matters. You can't solve for an offset until you know the size and the shape of the problem. Most sellers know neither.

Redeployment Map

An Excel model, yours to keep. Illustrative first-year depreciation ranges by asset class, and for each one, the capital you'd need to deploy to offset your specific gain. Partial offset scenarios at 25%, 50%, and 75%, plus a sensitivity toggle so you can test your own assumptions.

Why it matters. It turns "I should probably reinvest some of this" into a specific number you can take to a sponsor.

Timing Recommendation

Which tax year to close in, and why. The runway each option gives you to source and fund the redeployment. Which deadlines are actually binding and which ones are not. What changes if the sale slips a quarter.

Why it matters. Timing is the only variable that's free to change and the only one that expires without telling you.

Scoping call, 45 minutes

You walk through what you're selling and what you're thinking. Matt makes the passive activity determination, confirms the document list, and tells you if anything is missing.

Findings call, 60 minutes

Matt walks you through the numbers, the offset scenarios, and the timing call. You ask questions. Written recap follows within one business day.

Sample Output

What the Analysis
Actually Looks Like

A hypothetical limited partner selling an LP interest in a value-add multifamily deal for $1,000,000, with $300,000 of debt relief. Figures are illustrative and are not drawn from any client engagement.

This is an abridged preview, not the deliverable.

What you receive is considerably more detailed than what's shown below. The gain computation includes the full basis roll-forward year by year, the reasoning behind each character determination, and the assumptions each figure rests on. The redeployment map is a working Excel model with every asset class, partial offset scenarios, and inputs you can flex yourself. The timing recommendation is a written analysis of your specific closing window and the tradeoffs in it, not a single paragraph. The excerpts here are meant to show the kind of content the engagement produces, not the depth of it.

Gain Computation
Deliverable 1
ComponentAmountRateEst. tax
Section 1245 ordinary recapture$60,00037.0%$22,200
Section 751 ordinary income$40,00037.0%$14,800
Section 1231 recharacterized, 5-year lookback$30,00037.0%$11,100
Unrecaptured Section 1250 gain$250,00025.0%$62,500
Section 1231 / long-term capital gain$580,00020.0%$116,000
Net investment income tax3.8%$36,480
Total gain and estimated federal tax$960,000$263,080

Suspended passive losses released on disposition: $120,000. Offsettable gain: $840,000. Federal only, which is what the base engagement covers. State treatment is the optional $750 add-on, and it matters more than most sellers expect: several states don't conform to federal bonus depreciation.

Redeployment Map
Deliverable 2
Asset class Illustrative first-year deduction Capital to offset 50% Capital to offset 100%
Multifamily, value-add20% to 40%$1.05M to $2.10M$2.10M to $4.20M
Self-storage40% to 60%$700k to $1.05M$1.40M to $2.10M
Industrial and warehouse15% to 30%$1.40M to $2.80M$2.80M to $5.60M
Mobile home and RV parks60% to 80%$525k to $700k$1.05M to $1.40M

Ranges, not point estimates. Actual first-year depreciation depends on the cost segregation study performed on the actual property, on the deal's leverage, and on how much bonus depreciation the deal can actually deliver to you. Nothing here is a recommendation to invest in any asset class, sponsor, or offering.

Timing Recommendation
Deliverable 3

Recommendation: close in January rather than December.

A December closing leaves roughly six weeks to source, diligence, and fund a redeployment large enough to matter, during the part of the year when sponsors are least likely to have capacity. Moving the closing across the year boundary opens a full 12-month window at a cost of one quarter of deferral. Where the buyer has flexibility, this is usually the single highest-value change available.

Excerpt. The delivered version works through your actual closing window, the runway each option gives you, what changes if the sale slips, and where the recommendation is sensitive to a fact that couldn't be verified from the documents.

How It Works

Five Steps,
Start to Finish

01

Fit call

Free. You find out whether this is the right analysis for your situation before you spend anything.

02

Documents

You upload three years of returns, every K-1 from the position, and whatever exists on the sale. Short organizer, about 15 minutes.

03

Scoping call

Forty-five minutes. You walk through the deal and what you're contemplating. Anything missing gets flagged now, not later.

04

Analysis

Ten business days from complete documents. Basis rebuilt, gain computed and split by character, offset scenarios modeled.

05

Findings call

Sixty minutes. The numbers and the options, presented. You get the memo, the model, and a written recap.

Pricing

One Fee. One Engagement.
No Retainer.

$2,500
Base engagement. Flat fee, paid in full at signing. Federal analysis.
Turnaround
10 business days
Scope
One disposition
Calls
Two, scheduled
Book a Fit Call

Any engagement recommended in the memo holds at the quoted price for 60 days. The fee is not credited toward future work, because the analysis stands on its own. See how everything else is priced →

Optional add-on
State Gain Analysis
+$750

The base engagement is federal. Add this and the same disposition gets run through the states that actually touch it: where the property sits, where the entity files, and where you live. It covers how each state characterizes the gain, nonresident withholding and composite filing exposure at closing, credits for tax paid to other states, and where a state's nonconformity to bonus depreciation changes the offset math — which is the part that quietly breaks a redeployment plan built on federal numbers alone.

Entirely optional. Plenty of dispositions are single-state and straightforward enough that the federal analysis answers the question on its own. You can decide on the fit call, or after the scoping call once the states in play are known.

$2,500 federal only · $3,250 with the state add-on · Same ten business days either way

Scope

What This
Is Not

This engagement is deliberately narrow. Knowing where it stops is part of what you're buying.

Related Reading

Kicking the Tires?
Start Here

Everything the analysis does rests on mechanics that are already written up in plain English. If you'd rather understand the strategy before you talk to anyone, read these first.

The Lazy 1031 Exchange: A Complete Explainer

The full walkthrough: the like-kind wall, the passive-loss mechanic, the bonus depreciation math, and where the strategy breaks.

Read the guide → You Don't Need a 1031 to Defer a Gain

The core mechanic: netting a gain against a fresh first-year passive loss. No intermediary, no 45-day clock.

Read the article → The Lazy 1031 That Closed a Raise

A 1031 investor was one commitment short. A year-one cost-seg loss absorbed his gain instead.

Read the article → Your Exit Gain Is Taxed in Three Buckets

Section 1245 recapture, Section 1250 at 25%, and 1231 capital gain. Why one blended rate misleads you.

Read the article → Suspended Passive Losses Are a Vault

A suspended loss isn't dead money. It's a vault that unlocks at disposition, and it changes the offset math.

Read the article → Passive Activity Loss Rules: A Guide

Why rental losses are passive by default, the gates a loss has to clear, and how one gets freed.

Read the guide → 1031 Exchanges and Deferral Alternatives

When an actual exchange is the right tool, when timing and depreciation beat it, and what a 1031 can't fix.

Read the guide →

More on the same thread: why your exit tax bill is bigger than you think, depreciation as a loan against future gain, how cost segregation actually works, and how the compliance engagement works year-round.

Before You Book

Questions,
Answered Directly

Is this actually a 1031 exchange?

No. A Section 1031 exchange defers gain by rolling proceeds into like-kind replacement property through a qualified intermediary, on a strict 45 and 180 day timeline. This is different. It uses depreciation from a newly acquired passive investment to offset the passive gain you recognized. The gain is still recognized. It's the tax on it that gets absorbed. People call it the lazy 1031 because the outcome rhymes, not because the mechanism is the same. The full mechanics are here.

What if I actively ran the property or business I am selling?

Then the gain is likely non-passive, and passive losses from a new investment can't offset it. The strategy wouldn't do what you want. This is exactly why the fit call exists and why it's free. Raise it there and you'll get a plain answer, plus a pointer to what does work in your situation. Background on the rules.

What if I cannot find all of my K-1s?

Send what you have and say what's missing. Gaps are common and most of them are workable. If the gap is large enough that your basis has to be rebuilt from scratch, that's a separate piece of work and it gets quoted before it starts, not after. You won't get that work done and then billed for it.

I have not decided whether I am selling yet. Is it too early?

That's the right time, not the wrong time. Once the asset is under contract most of your options are already set. The analysis is worth the most when the closing date is still yours to choose.

Will you tell me which deal to invest in?

No, and you should be skeptical of any CPA who does. The analysis models what different asset classes do to your tax position per dollar deployed. Which sponsor and which deal is your decision, made with your own diligence. This is the tax lens, not an investment recommendation.

Does this include preparing my return for the year of the sale?

No. This is analysis, not compliance. That said, the return that reports this sale is usually the year your K-1s and basis records matter most, and Surefire does prepare partnership returns and K-1s. If it makes sense we can talk about it after the analysis is delivered, not before.

Does the analysis cover my state taxes?

The base $2,500 engagement is federal. State is an optional $750 add-on that runs the same disposition through the states that actually touch it — where the property sits, where the entity files, and where you live — including how each one characterizes the gain, nonresident withholding at closing, credits for tax paid to other states, and where a state's nonconformity to bonus depreciation changes what a redeployment actually offsets. Add it and the engagement is $3,250. It's genuinely optional, and you can decide on the fit call or after scoping once the states in play are known. See the pricing.

Can you credit the fee toward future work?

No, and here's why. Crediting it would tell you the analysis had no standalone value, and it does. What is offered instead: the pricing on anything recommended in the memo holds for 60 days.

How is this different from ongoing advisory?

Advisory is a recurring flat-fee relationship with a CPA who holds your books and compliance context and watches the whole portfolio year-round. This is a one-time, fixed-scope analysis of a single disposition, with no commitment on either side. If it turns out the complexity warrants a continuous relationship, this is a natural way to find that out.

Get Started

Find Out What the Sale Costs You
While You Can Still Change It

Book a free fit call. We'll cover what you're selling, how involved you were in running it, and whether this is the right analysis for you. If it isn't, you'll hear that.

Schedule a Fit Call Email Matt Directly

Or see the main engagement: partnership returns and K-1s →

The Lazy 1031 Analysis is the marketing name for an engagement formally titled the Passive Gain Offset Analysis. It is not a Section 1031 like-kind exchange and does not involve a qualified intermediary, identification periods, or exchange facilitation.

All figures shown on this page are illustrative and hypothetical. They are not drawn from any client engagement and are not a representation of results. Depreciation ranges are general industry estimates and depend on the cost segregation study performed on the actual property, the deal's capital structure, and applicable law at the time. Pricing reflects a standard single-disposition engagement and may be adjusted for scope; the signed engagement letter governs all terms. Analysis is federal unless state analysis is expressly added; several states do not conform to federal bonus depreciation. This page is general information about our services and is not tax, legal, or investment advice, and no one should act on it without engaging a professional to review their specific facts. Surefire Tax & Accounting LLC provides tax preparation and advisory services only and does not advise on the merits of any specific investment.