Business Tax Memo

Rico Corporation currently owns two parcels of land (parcel A and parcel B). It owns a warehouse facility on parcel A. Rico needs to acquire a new and larger manufacturing facility. Rico was approached by Build It Up Buttercup Construction (who specializes in prefabricated warehouses) about acquiring Rico’s existing warehouse on parcel A. Rico indicated that it prefers to exchange its existing facility for a new and larger facility in a qualifying like-kind exchange. Build It Up Buttercup indicated that it could construct a new manufacturing facility on parcel B to Rico’s specification within four months. Rico and Build It Up Buttercup agreed to the following arrangement. First, Build It Up Buttercup would construct the new warehouse on parcel B and then relinquish the property to Rico within three months. Rico would then transfer the warehouse facility and land parcel A to Build It Up Buttercup. All of the property exchanged in the deal was identified immediately and the construction was completed within 180 days. Does the exchange of the new building for the old building and parcel A qualify as a like-kind exchange (see DeCleene v. Commissioner, 115 TC 457)?. Your responsibility: Prepare a tax research memo addressing the question that has been raised. You will need to support your conclusion using primary sources of tax law. Your textbook is NOT primary authority nor are IRS Publications. You must use proper citation form in your memo (see Chapter 2 for help with citation form). The form for this communication should be professional and in the form of a tax research memo (examples posted on Blackboard and a similar example in your textbook). Do yourself a favor and look at the grading rubric before you submit. This memo should be whatever length you feel is appropriate to resolve the issues. We do NOT use a bibliography or list of references in a tax research memo. You will see that citations are within the text of the document in the example. Once a court case has been cited in full, it can be referred to using simply the name in italics.