Commercial Property Owners Can Save Millions with Accelerated Asset Depreciation

New Book by Nationally-Known Expert Outlines Steps to Implement Cost Segregation Income Tax Savings



Buffalo – December 29, 2006 – A new book authored by Grant Keppel, CPA, National Director of Cost Segregation Partners, Real Estate Cost Segregation: A Practitioners Guide puts cost segregation in its larger depreciation context and discusses the legal authority that support cost segregation.



Cost segregation allows property owners to qualify for substantial state and federal tax savings when real estate holdings qualify for accelerated depreciation, meaning larger tax deductions over a shorter period. Says Keppel: “The benefits of larger tax deductions include increased cash flow and lower cost of capital in the first few years following a construction project or acquisition.”



Explains IRS Guidelines



Real Estate Cost Segregation shows how to identify properties that are valid prospects for cost segregation and provides printouts of sample spreadsheets used to determine whether a cost segregation study will be cost-effective. Generally, the benefits are at least ten-to-one in relation to the cost associated in preparing the study and report. The book also outlines what the IRS seeks in a quality cost segregation study and report.



Provides Procedures for Implementing Cost-Segregation Practices



Keppel walks the reader through the actual execution of a cost segregation study and report, illustrating it as a multi-step process as well as a multi-party process involving a tax practitioner, engineering, architectural, and other experts.



“CSS isn’t risky or aggressive,” says Keppel. According to Keppel, hundreds of property owners are leaving dollars on the table by not pursuing this IRS-approved tax strategy. Cost segregation studies can be prepared for office buildings, manufacturing plants, multi-family housing, shopping centers, restaurant and retail chains, and a variety of other real estate properties. The application of cost segregation is vast, in that any constructed or acquired buildings placed in service since January 1, 1987 can benefit from a cost segregation study. The new IRS revenue procedure in 2004 gave practitioners the ability to perform cost segregation studies without the need to amend tax returns.



Recently enacted tax laws are also addressed in the book. Notes Keppel, “reflecting an inclusive and completely updated grasp of IRS requirements is critical to the success of cost segregation studies.”



About Grant Keppel, CPA



Grant Keppel, CPA, is one of the most experienced cost segregation study practitioners in the country, having performed more than 2,000 cost segregation studies since 1997 that have saved clients of Mr. Keppel’s firm, Cost Segregation Partners, millions of income tax expenditures. Mr. Keppel is a nationally-recognized speaker in the field of cost segregation. His expertise encompasses such industries as fast food and restaurant, shopping centers/strip plazas, as well as manufacturing, health care, automobile, and food processing. Mr. Keppel is active in training and assisting CPA practices nationwide in establishing a cost segregation practice. He has authored several articles about cost segregation and its positive financial impacts, including articles in Practical Accountant, The Leading Edge Alliance of CPA Firms Magazine, Nation’s Restaurant News, The Secured Lender, and the New York Real Estate Journal. He was featured as the authority on cost segregation in an article titled “Unlocking the Assets of Fixed Assets,” by Harold Wolosky, published in the October 2005 issue of SMB Finance.



Mr. Keppel is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Buffalo chapter of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants.

Real Estate Cost Segregation: A Practitioners Guide

by Grant Keppel, CPA