089. What Is Cost Segregation? [Accelerated Depreciation And How It Works]

One of the many reasons commercial real estate is so profitable is the ability to take advantage of depreciation. As buildings wear out over time, the IRS allows owners of investment properties to deduct a certain amount from their income every year before tax is applied as “depreciation expense”. Since this is an imaginary or paper expense, in that you’re not paying for it out of pocket, the more you claim in depreciation the more you can walk away with after taxes. Cost segregation is a common way of trying to maximize the amount of depreciation expense you can claim by speeding up the abstract decline in property value. Let’s take a look at how that plays out.