1031 Exchange in Florida: 2026 State Tax Rules and Local QI Guide
Start a Conversation

1031 Exchange in Florida: 2026 State Tax Rules and Local QI Guide

1031 Exchange in Florida: How Florida Investors Defer Capital Gains

1031 Exchange in Florida: How Florida Investors Defer Capital Gains
1031 Exchange in Florida: 2026 State Tax Rules and Local QI Guide

A 1031 exchange florida deal lets a Florida real estate investor sell investment property, redeploy the entire gross proceeds into a like-kind replacement asset, and defer the federal capital gains tax, the 25% Section 1250 depreciation recapture, and the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax that would otherwise hit at closing. Florida adds an unusual twist that residents of California, New York, and Oregon do not get: the state imposes no personal income tax (Florida Department of Revenue, “Florida Tax Information for New Residents”) and no state-level capital gains tax, which means the 1031 deferral question in Florida is purely a federal calculation rather than a stacked federal-plus-state problem. That single fact changes how Florida sellers structure their Qualified Intermediary (QI) selection, their identification list, and their replacement-property math compared to investors selling out of high-tax states.

This guide walks through the federal mechanics under Internal Revenue Code Section 1031 (26 U.S.C. Section 1031), the binding Treasury Regulations at Treas. Reg. Section 1.1031(k)-1, the 45-day and 180-day deadlines, the QI safe harbor, the like-kind test as narrowed by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the boot rules, the same-taxpayer rule, recent IRS guidance, and worked math on a hypothetical $1,000,000 Tampa multifamily sale rolling into a $1,500,000 Jacksonville industrial asset. It is written for Florida investors, Florida CPAs, and out-of-state buyers exchanging into Florida real estate.

Quick-Reference Table: Florida 1031 Exchange at a Glance

The table below distills the binding rules that apply to every forward (deferred) 1031 exchange closing in Florida in 2026. Use it as the featured-snippet summary before reading the deep dives that follow.

Rule Detail Primary source
Statutory authority IRC Section 1031(a)(1) 26 U.S.C. Section 1031
Eligible property (post-TCJA) Real property held for productive use in a trade or business or for investment IRS Publication 544
Identification deadline 45 calendar days from the closing date on the relinquished property Treas. Reg. 1.1031(k)-1(b)(2)(i)
Exchange deadline 180 calendar days from the relinquished closing, or the due date of the taxpayer return (with extensions) for the year of sale, whichever is earlier Treas. Reg. 1.1031(k)-1(b)(2)(ii)
Qualified Intermediary required Yes, under the safe harbor at Treas. Reg. 1.1031(k)-1(g)(4) Treas. Reg. 1.1031(k)-1
Identification rules 3-property rule, 200% rule, or 95% rule Treas. Reg. 1.1031(k)-1(c)(4)
Federal capital gains rate (LTCG) 0%, 15%, or 20% depending on bracket; plus 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax IRS Topic 409, IRS NIIT page
Depreciation recapture rate (Section 1250) 25% (unrecaptured Section 1250 gain) 26 U.S.C. Section 1250
Florida personal income tax None Florida DOR
Florida documentary stamp tax on deeds $0.70 per $100 of consideration (Miami-Dade is $0.60 plus surtax) Florida DOR doc stamp page
Florida sales tax on commercial rent 2.0% as of June 1, 2024, eliminated effective taxable months beginning after May 1, 2025, per HB 7073 (2024) Florida DOR sales tax page
Reporting form IRS Form 8824, Like-Kind Exchanges, filed with the year-of-sale return IRS Form 8824 page

Two Florida items in that table matter most. First, Florida has no state income tax, so a Florida resident keeps the entire benefit of any federal deferral. Second, the Florida sales tax on commercial leases (the “business rent tax”) was 2.0% in the first half of 2025 and was eliminated for taxable rental periods beginning after May 1, 2025, under HB 7073 enacted May 7, 2024 (Florida Senate HB 7073). That cut affects replacement-property cash flow but not the federal exchange mechanics.

IRC Section 1031 Foundation: From 1921 to the Post-TCJA Regime

The like-kind exchange traces back to Section 202(c) of the Revenue Act of 1921, enacted November 23, 1921 to relieve taxpayers from recognizing gain when they swapped property of “like kind or use” without receiving cash (H.R. 8245, 67th Congress). The provision was renumbered as Section 112(b)(1) in 1939 and recodified as Section 1031 in the 1954 Code (26 U.S.C. Section 1031). The Congressional rationale, that exchanges represent a continuation of investment rather than a cashing-out event, still drives the doctrine today.

For 96 years Section 1031 applied to a broad universe: real property, personal property, equipment, livestock, franchise rights, and certain intangibles. That ended December 22, 2017, when President Trump signed Public Law 115-97, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (H.R. 1, 115th Congress). Section 13303 of TCJA amended Section 1031(a)(1) to limit like-kind exchanges to “real property held for productive use in a trade or business or for investment,” effective for exchanges after December 31, 2017 (IRS Notice 2019-66). Treasury issued final regulations defining “real property” on November 23, 2020 at 85 Fed. Reg. 77365, codified at Treas. Reg. Section 1.1031(a)-3.

For a Florida real estate investor, the post-2017 picture is simple. If you are selling investment property in Tampa, Orlando, Miami, Jacksonville, Fort Lauderdale, or Naples and rolling proceeds into another U.S. investment real estate asset, you qualify. If you are trying to defer gain on a fleet of trucks, a yacht, or franchise agreements, you do not. Section 1031(h)(1) also bars foreign property, so a Naples investor cannot 1031 into a Costa Rican beach lot.

Eligibility: What Florida Property Qualifies for a 1031 Exchange

To qualify for nonrecognition under IRC Section 1031, both the relinquished property and the replacement property must be “held for productive use in a trade or business or for investment” (IRC Section 1031(a)(1)). The IRS has long applied this two-prong test through Publication 544, Sales and Other Dispositions of Assets (IRS Pub 544), and through Revenue Ruling 75-291 and similar guidance.

Florida has deep investment-real-estate inventory across asset classes. JLL reported roughly $54 billion of Florida commercial real estate transaction volume in 2024 across multifamily, industrial, office, and retail (JLL Southeast Investment Outlook), part of why so many out-of-state investors run 1031 exchanges into Florida rather than out of it.

The “held for” test focuses on taxpayer intent at acquisition and during the hold. Practitioners typically recommend a 12 to 24 month minimum hold, although there is no bright-line statutory safe harbor (Davis Polk client update, 2024). For related intent-test planning, see our installment sales in real estate guide.

The 45-Day Identification Period

Once you close on the relinquished Florida property, you have exactly 45 calendar days to identify in writing the candidate replacement property or properties. The deadline is set by Treas. Reg. Section 1.1031(k)-1(b)(2)(i) and is not extendable for weekends, holidays, hurricanes, or any other reason short of a federally declared disaster covered by a specific IRS extension notice. The IRS has periodically issued such notices, including Notice 2024-58 for various 2024 disaster zones (IRS Notice 2024-58) and similar relief after Hurricane Ian in 2022 (IRS Hurricane Ian relief announcement), but absent a published extension, day 45 is day 45.

The identification must be:

  1. In writing,
  2. Signed by the taxpayer,
  3. Hand-delivered, mailed, telecopied, or otherwise sent to the Qualified Intermediary or any other party involved in the exchange who is not a “disqualified person” under Treas. Reg. Section 1.1031(k)-1(k), and
  4. Unambiguously describing the replacement property by legal description, street address, or distinguishable name (Treas. Reg. Section 1.1031(k)-1(c)(3)).

You may identify multiple candidate properties under one of three rules (Treas. Reg. Section 1.1031(k)-1(c)(4)):

Rule Limit When to use it
3-property rule Up to 3 properties of any value Default for most single-asset exchanges
200% rule Any number of properties so long as combined fair market value does not exceed 200% of the relinquished property’s value Common when assembling a small portfolio
95% rule Any number of properties of any value, provided the taxpayer ultimately acquires properties with a fair market value of at least 95% of all identified properties Rare; used for large institutional portfolio rollovers

Florida investors typically default to the 3-property rule for single-asset trades and the 200% rule when breaking a large multifamily sale into two or three smaller assets. The Federation of Exchange Accommodators reports the 3-property rule covers more than 80% of all exchanges its members process (Federation of Exchange Accommodators). After day 45 the list is locked; revocation and re-identification are permitted only within the 45-day window.

The 180-Day Exchange Period

The replacement property closing must occur by the earlier of (a) 180 calendar days after the closing of the relinquished property, or (b) the due date (including extensions) of your federal tax return for the tax year in which the relinquished property was sold (Treas. Reg. Section 1.1031(k)-1(b)(2)(ii); IRC Section 1031(a)(3)(B)).

The “due date with extensions” trap catches Florida investors who close late in the calendar year. If you close on the sale of a Tampa multifamily on November 15, 2026, your 180-day deadline is May 14, 2027, but your unextended Form 1040 due date is April 15, 2027. To get the full 180 days, you must file Form 4868 by April 15, 2027 to extend your individual return, which then runs to October 15, 2027 and preserves the full 180-day window (IRS Form 4868). Skadden, Arps has flagged this as one of the most common technical failures in late-year exchanges (Skadden tax insights, real estate practice).

The 180-day clock includes the 45-day identification window, not in addition to it. There is no extension for weekends or holidays, and the deadline runs in calendar days.

For larger Florida portfolio exchanges, the 180-day window drives transaction sequencing. A January or February closing gives the taxpayer the entire calendar year to find replacement property; a late-fall sale forces an extension filing and pressure to close in Q1. Florida-based QIs including Asset Preservation, Inc. (Asset Preservation, Inc.) and IPX1031 (Investment Property Exchange Services, Inc.) publish calendar tools mapping the 45-day and 180-day deadlines against tax-year due dates for this reason.

Qualified Intermediary Requirements Under the Safe Harbor

A Qualified Intermediary is not technically required by the Section 1031 statute, but as a practical matter every deferred (forward) exchange in Florida uses one. The reason is that a taxpayer who receives the relinquished sale proceeds, even constructively, breaks the exchange and triggers immediate recognition of gain. The QI safe harbor at Treas. Reg. Section 1.1031(k)-1(g)(4) prevents constructive receipt by requiring that the funds be held by an unrelated party throughout the exchange period.

To qualify as a QI, the party must (Treas. Reg. Section 1.1031(k)-1(g)(4)(iii)):

  1. Not be the taxpayer or a “disqualified person” (which includes the taxpayer’s agent within the prior two years, family members, and entities in which the taxpayer holds more than 10% interest, under Treas. Reg. 1.1031(k)-1(k));
  2. Enter into a written exchange agreement with the taxpayer;
  3. Acquire the relinquished property from the taxpayer and transfer it to the buyer;
  4. Acquire the replacement property and transfer it to the taxpayer;
  5. Hold the exchange funds during the exchange period; and
  6. Limit the taxpayer’s rights to receive, pledge, borrow, or otherwise obtain the benefits of the funds during the exchange period.

Florida has no state-level QI licensing regime. Eight states (California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Virginia, Washington, and Maine) require QI bonding, fidelity insurance, or segregated trust accounts under state law, but Florida does not. That makes QI due diligence the investor’s responsibility. The Federation of Exchange Accommodators publishes a code of ethics and a peer-review program that signatories adopt voluntarily (FEA Code of Ethics), and the major institutional QIs serving Florida (IPX1031, Asset Preservation Inc., 1031 Corp, First American Exchange Company, Accruit, JTC Americas, and Exeter 1031 Exchange Services) all carry fidelity bonds in the $20 million to $100 million range and hold exchange funds in qualified trust accounts at top-tier custodian banks (First American Exchange Company, Accruit, Exeter 1031).

The QI failures of the late 2000s, most prominently the 2008 bankruptcy of LandAmerica 1031 Exchange Services, drove the FEA to push for institutional bonding and segregated trust accounts (LandAmerica Form 8-K, SEC filings 2008). Confirm in writing that the QI holds funds in a qualified trust account segregated from operating funds, carries fidelity bonding sized to the deal, and provides audited financials. For broader advisor-selection diligence in deal structures, see our piece on choosing an M&A advisor.

Like-Kind Property Definition for Real Estate

“Like-kind” in the real estate context is read very broadly. Treas. Reg. Section 1.1031(a)-1(b) provides that the words “like kind” refer to the “nature or character of the property and not to its grade or quality.” For real property, virtually any U.S. real estate held for investment or business use is like-kind to any other U.S. real estate held for investment or business use.

Concrete Florida examples that are all like-kind to each other:

The post-TCJA final regulations at Treas. Reg. Section 1.1031(a)-3 clarified that “real property” includes land, improvements, unsevered crops, water and air rights, and personal property incidental to real property if aggregate FMV of the personal property does not exceed 15% of aggregate FMV of the replacement real property (Final Regs, 85 Fed. Reg. 77365, Dec. 2, 2020). That 15% safe harbor matters in Florida hotel and self-storage deals where FF&E can be material.

Foreign real property is not like-kind to U.S. real property under IRC Section 1031(h)(1). A Sarasota condo is not like-kind to a Tulum villa. Within the U.S. geography is irrelevant: a Florida investor can exchange Florida property for any U.S. real estate, including high-tax states. The federal deferral applies in all 50 states; the state-tax treatment depends on the destination.

Boot Rules: Cash Boot, Mortgage Boot, and Mixed Property

“Boot” is non-like-kind property or cash received in the exchange. Boot is taxable to the extent of realized gain, even if the rest of the exchange qualifies for nonrecognition. The boot rules are set by IRC Section 1031(b) and Treas. Reg. Section 1.1031(b)-1.

Two species of boot regularly trip up Florida exchanges:

Type of boot Definition Tax effect
Cash boot Net cash received by the taxpayer at the relinquished closing or held back by the QI at the end of the exchange period Taxable as capital gain up to the realized gain
Mortgage boot (debt relief) The amount by which the mortgage on the relinquished property exceeds the mortgage on the replacement property Taxable as capital gain up to the realized gain; may be offset by adding equivalent new cash to the replacement property purchase
Non-like-kind property Personal property, partnership interests, or anything else outside the real-property universe received as part of the deal Taxable at fair market value, up to realized gain

The basic boot-avoidance rule of thumb: in a fully deferred exchange, the taxpayer must (a) acquire replacement property of equal or greater value than the relinquished property, (b) reinvest all of the net equity (the cash proceeds at closing), and (c) acquire equal or greater debt on the replacement property, OR add equivalent cash to make up the difference. Miss any of those three and boot is recognized.

Mortgage boot is the silent killer. Consider a Naples investor selling a $2,000,000 retail center with a $1,200,000 mortgage and $800,000 of equity, then reinvesting into a $2,000,000 Jacksonville industrial property with only a $700,000 mortgage. The investor put up the same $800,000 of equity, but the debt dropped by $500,000. That $500,000 of net debt relief is mortgage boot, taxable as gain even though no cash was received. The fix is to add $500,000 of fresh cash to the replacement purchase or restructure the new loan. Latham & Watkins has flagged this as the most common Section 1031 modeling error in mid-market deals (Latham & Watkins real estate tax insights).

Cash boot is more obvious. If the QI returns $50,000 of unused exchange funds on day 181, that $50,000 is taxable. Boot is taxed at the same LTCG rates (0%, 15%, or 20%) plus the 3.8% NIIT where applicable (IRS NIIT), and the 25% depreciation recapture rate can apply to a portion of the boot if the relinquished property had Section 1250 depreciation.

Title-Holding: The Same-Taxpayer Rule

The taxpayer who sells the relinquished property must be the same taxpayer who acquires the replacement property. This rule, derived from IRC Section 1031(a) and reinforced by long-standing IRS guidance, is rigid. A common Florida-specific failure mode involves single-member LLCs and revocable living trusts.

The rule allows certain entity equivalencies:

The rule prohibits other swaps:

Florida’s tenancy-by-the-entireties rules complicate the analysis. Married Florida couples often hold investment property as tenants by the entireties; that form is a single entity for state-law purposes but two separate owners for federal tax purposes. Section 1031 follows the federal characterization, so each spouse’s interest must trace through to the replacement property in the same proportion. Cooley LLP has produced practice notes on this issue (Cooley insights on estate and tax planning).

Recent IRS Guidance and Court Cases

Section 1031 doctrine continues to develop, even after the 2017 narrowing. The most consequential post-TCJA rulings and cases include:

The Biden administration’s FY 2025 Green Book proposed capping Section 1031 deferrals at $500,000 per taxpayer per year ($1,000,000 for joint returns), a proposal carried forward from prior budgets (Treasury Green Book FY 2025). The proposal has not been enacted. Industry trade groups including the Federation of Exchange Accommodators, the National Association of Realtors (NAR), and the Real Estate Roundtable have opposed the cap. As of 2026, Section 1031 remains uncapped at the federal level. Sullivan & Cromwell has published client alerts tracking the legislative status (Sullivan & Cromwell publications).

State Tax Conformity: Florida Versus California, New York, Washington, and Texas

State income tax conformity to IRC Section 1031 varies sharply. The Florida picture is the cleanest in the country, but a Florida investor exchanging into a property located in California, New York, or Oregon must understand the state-level traps in the destination state.

State Personal income tax? 1031 conformity? Clawback risk?
Florida No N/A (no state income tax) None
California Yes, top rate 13.3% Yes, but with annual reporting requirement Yes, California “clawback” tracks deferred gain on California real estate and taxes it when ultimately recognized, even after the taxpayer moves out of state (Cal. Rev. & Tax Code Section 18032; California FTB Like-Kind Exchanges page)
New York Yes, top rate 10.9% (plus NYC up to 3.876%) Yes, full conformity Nonresidents owe NY tax on gain attributable to NY real estate; partial conformity with NYC unincorporated business tax (NY DTF nonresident page)
Washington No personal income tax; 7% capital gains excise tax on gains over $270,000 (2024 indexed) State CGT applies under RCW 82.87; 1031 deferral generally preserved through conformity Limited; see Washington DOR guidance (WA DOR Capital Gains Tax page)
Texas No personal income tax N/A None at the income-tax level; franchise tax applies to entities

For Florida investors, the only state-level item to watch is when exchanging out of Florida into California. The California clawback under Cal. Rev. & Tax Code Section 18032, added by AB 92 (Stats. 2013, Ch. 38), requires annual filing of FTB Form 3840 for every year the deferred gain remains in California-source property, and California will tax the deferred gain when ultimately recognized, even decades later, even after the taxpayer has left California (California FTB Form 3840 instructions, 2024). For a deep dive on related installment-sale clawback dynamics, see our companion piece on IRC Section 453 installment sales.

Florida-to-Florida exchanges have no state-level complications. The federal deferral runs cleanly, and there is no state-level reporting beyond the federal Form 8824 attached to the Form 1040 (IRS Form 8824 instructions). Florida’s documentary stamp tax on deeds ($0.70 per $100 of consideration statewide, $0.60 plus discretionary surtax in Miami-Dade County) does apply to both legs of the exchange and is a transaction cost, not an income tax (Florida DOR documentary stamp).

Worked Example: $1,000,000 Tampa Sale Into $1,500,000 Jacksonville Replacement

Assume a Florida resident sold a Tampa multifamily property in February 2026 and is rolling proceeds into a Jacksonville industrial asset. The fact pattern:

Step-by-step math:

Line Amount Notes
Gross sale price $1,000,000
Less selling expenses ($75,000) broker, doc stamps, title
Amount realized $925,000
Less adjusted basis ($400,000)
Realized gain $525,000 $200,000 of which is unrecaptured Section 1250 gain
Net equity at closing (paid to QI) $625,000 $925,000 amount realized minus $300,000 payoff of relinquished mortgage
Replacement purchase price $1,500,000
Replacement equity needed $650,000 $1,500,000 purchase price minus $850,000 new mortgage
Cash boot $0 QI net equity $625,000 plus $25,000 fresh cash from buyer fully redeployed
Mortgage relief $0 New debt $850,000 exceeds old debt $300,000
Recognized gain $0 Full deferral
Federal tax avoided at closing $152,250 $325,000 LTCG x 23.8% (20% LTCG + 3.8% NIIT) + $200,000 Section 1250 unrecaptured x 25% + adjustments
Florida state tax avoided $0 No Florida personal income tax

Compare that to a non-Florida resident in California running the same trade. A California resident with the same facts would also avoid the $152,250 federal hit through the 1031, but California would track the deferred gain on FTB Form 3840 every year until the gain is finally recognized, at which point California would apply its top rate of 13.3% to the $525,000 deferred amount, or roughly $69,825 of California tax, in addition to any federal recognition. The Florida resident has no such state-level shadow obligation. This is the structural advantage of being domiciled in Florida for 1031 planning. For framing how 1031 deferral compares with other transaction structures, see asset deal versus stock deal and Form 6252 installment sales.

Recent IRS Reporting and Form 8824

Every completed 1031 exchange must be reported on IRS Form 8824, Like-Kind Exchanges, filed with the federal return for the tax year in which the relinquished property was sold (IRS Form 8824 instructions). The form requires:

  1. Description of like-kind property given up and received
  2. Dates acquired, transferred, identified, and received
  3. Realized gain or loss, recognized gain, and deferred gain
  4. Basis of like-kind property received
  5. Any boot received and its character

A Florida resident files Form 8824 with the federal Form 1040 only. There is no parallel state form because Florida has no individual income tax. A California resident, by contrast, files FTB Form 3840 in addition to Form 8824 and continues filing FTB Form 3840 every subsequent year until the deferred gain is recognized (California FTB Form 3840 instructions).

IRS Statistics of Income data show approximately 590,000 Form 8824 filings for tax year 2022, reflecting roughly $128 billion in deferred gain (IRS Statistics of Income). Real estate represents the vast majority of these filings post-TCJA. Bloomberg Tax reports the IRS examination rate on 1031 exchanges runs 3 to 4 times the rate on returns without exchanges (Bloomberg Tax coverage).

Five Common 1031 Mistakes That Sink Florida Exchanges

Across the major QIs operating in Florida, the failure modes cluster in five buckets:

  1. Missed 45-day or 180-day deadline. Single most common failure. Once day 46 or day 181 passes, the gain is recognized, with no extension and no equitable tolling. Federal disaster declarations are the only out, and the IRS notice must explicitly reference Section 17.02 of Rev. Proc. 2018-58 (Rev. Proc. 2018-58). Always front-load the identification timeline and have written backups in hand by day 30.
  2. Related-party violations under IRC Section 1031(f). Selling to a related party (defined under IRC Sections 267(b) and 707(b)(1)) triggers a two-year holding rule. If either party disposes of the property within two years of the exchange, the deferral is unwound. Common Florida failure mode: an investor sells to a sibling, who flips within 18 months, and the original deferral disappears (Teruya Brothers, Ltd. v. Commissioner, 124 T.C. 45 (2005), aff’d 580 F.3d 1038, 9th Cir. 2009).
  3. Taxpayer-mismatch. The relinquished property is titled in an LLC and the replacement is titled in the individual’s name (or vice versa) without proper disregarded-entity treatment. Or the relinquished is held jointly and the replacement is held by one spouse alone. Title must trace through cleanly.
  4. Partial-exchange math errors. Investor reinvests less than the full net equity, or takes on less replacement debt, and inadvertently creates cash boot or mortgage boot without modeling it. The “drop in debt of $X equals taxable gain” math is non-intuitive and needs to be modeled before signing the replacement-property contract.
  5. QI bonding or fund-segregation gaps. Florida has no state-level QI licensing, so the burden is on the investor to verify that the QI holds exchange funds in segregated qualified-trust accounts at top-tier custodians, carries fidelity bonding sized to the deal, and provides audited financials or attestation. The LandAmerica failure of 2008 left several billion dollars of exchange funds frozen for years (LandAmerica SEC filings); the lesson is institutional QI selection.

Underwriting QI quality also relates to the broader counterparty diligence one would perform on any deal structure that carries closing-side risk, similar in spirit to the diligence behind material adverse effect clauses in M&A purchase agreements.

Reverse Exchanges and Improvement Exchanges in Florida

Beyond the standard forward (deferred) exchange, Florida investors with tight replacement-market conditions often consider two variants:

Reverse exchange (Rev. Proc. 2000-37). The replacement property is acquired first, parked in the name of an Exchange Accommodation Titleholder (EAT) for up to 180 days, while the investor markets and sells the relinquished property. Common in 2024-2026 Florida industrial and multifamily markets where bidding pressure makes locking up the replacement first essential. The EAT structure is procedurally intricate and adds 50 to 100 basis points of cost compared with a forward exchange (Rev. Proc. 2000-37; Kirkland & Ellis publications on tax structuring).

The 180-day cap on the parking arrangement matches the forward exchange. The taxpayer must identify the relinquished property within 45 days of the EAT’s acquisition of the replacement, and the swap must complete within 180 days. Common Florida use case: investor parks title to a Lakeland Class A industrial replacement with an EAT in March, sells the existing Sarasota retail in July, and completes the swap by mid-September.

Improvement exchange (build-to-suit). The replacement property is parked with an EAT while improvements are constructed using exchange funds. Construction must be substantially complete and the property must be transferred to the taxpayer within 180 days. Frequently used in Florida for ground-up industrial development and self-storage builds. Inman News has covered the growing use of improvement exchanges in Florida industrial markets (Inman News).

Choosing a Florida-Based Qualified Intermediary

While any FEA-member QI in the country can serve a Florida exchange, several factors push Florida investors toward firms with significant Florida presence and Florida real estate experience:

Major Florida QI options include Asset Preservation, Inc. (Tampa office; Asset Preservation, Inc.), IPX1031 (Miami and Tampa offices; IPX1031), First American Exchange Company (Florida offices statewide; First American Exchange Company), Exeter 1031 Exchange Services (Florida coverage; Exeter 1031), 1031 Corp (national with Florida deals; 1031 Corp), Accruit (technology-enabled platform; Accruit), and JTC Americas (institutional; JTC Americas). Bisnow has tracked QI market share in Florida industrial and multifamily deals (Bisnow national coverage).

Fee structures vary. For a typical $1,000,000 to $5,000,000 Florida exchange, expect a base QI fee of $850 to $2,000, plus interest credit on funds held during the exchange period. Reverse and improvement exchanges run materially higher, often $7,500 to $15,000 plus EAT costs (Forbes Real Estate Council coverage of QI fees).

TLDR and Seven Decision-Stage Takeaways

Section 1031 is more than a century old, and despite periodic legislative threats it remains uncapped and intact at the federal level in 2026. Florida’s tax structure makes it the most favorable U.S. jurisdiction in which to plan, execute, and complete a like-kind exchange. The 45-day and 180-day clocks are unforgiving, the boot and same-taxpayer rules require careful modeling, and the QI selection deserves real diligence, but for a Florida real estate investor with a meaningful gain, the federal deferral is one of the highest-leverage planning tools in the tax code (in the financial sense of leverage, not the AI sense).

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CT ACQUISITIONS

Disclaimer: CT Acquisitions is not a registered broker-dealer, investment advisor, or financial service provider. We act solely as a buy-side consultant and independent sponsor source. All information provided on this website is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation of any security or investment opportunity. We do not provide legal, tax, or accounting advice. Any potential transaction is subject to due diligence and legal documentation.

© 2025 CT Acquisitions. All Rights Reserved.