Since its formation, Roof Corporation has incurred the following net Section 1231 gains and losses. Year 1$(12,000)Net Section 1231 loss Year 2 10,500 Net Section 1231 gain Year 3 (14,000)Net Section 1231 loss In year 5, Roof sold one asset and recognized a $9,000 net Section 1231 gain. How much of this gain is treated as capital, and how much is ordinary

Answer:

a. $0 will be reported as capital gain, while $7,500 will be reported as ordinary gain.

b. $1,000 will be reported as capital gain, while $8,000 will be reported as ordinary gain.

Explanation:

Note: This question is not complete as part 'a' of the requirement is omitted. The complete question with the part 'a' of the requirement is therefore provided before answering the question as follows:

Since its formation, Roof Corporation has incurred the following net Section 1231 gains and losses.

Year 1  $ (12,000)    Net Section 1231 loss

Year 2      10,500      Net Section 1231 gain

Year 3    (14,000)     Net Section 1231 loss

a. In year 4, Roof sold one asset and recognized a $7,500 net Section 1231 gain. How much of this gain is treated as capital, and how much is ordinary?

b. In year 5, Roof sold one asset and recognized a $9,000 net Section 1231 gain. How much of this gain is treated as capital, and how much is ordinary?

Explanation of the answer is now provided as follows:

When section 1231 losses exceed section 1231 profits in the prior five years, the excess loss (unapplied loss) is applied against the current year's section 1231 gain.

The amount that is reported as ordinary income is the amount of the loss that is applied against the current year's section 1231 gain.

Long-term capital gain is the excess of the current year's section 1231 gain over the the recaptured section 1231 loss from the prior five years.

You have to start with the earliest year to apply section 1231 losses from the previous five years to the current year's section 1231 gain.

Therefore, we have:

a. In year 4, Roof sold one asset and recognized a $7,500 net Section 1231 gain. How much of this gain is treated as capital, and how much is ordinary?

As a result of the loss from the previous year that is applied to the extent of $7,500, the whole of the $7,500 net Section 1231 gain will be recorded as ordinary gain.

Therefore, $0 will be reported as capital gain, while $7,500 will be reported as ordinary gain.

b. In year 5, Roof sold one asset and recognized a $9,000 net Section 1231 gain. How much of this gain is treated as capital, and how much is ordinary?

Unapplied losses in previous years can be calculated as follows:

Details                                                       Amount ($)  

Net Section 1231 loss in Year 3                  (14,000)    

Net Section 1231 gain in Year 4                   7,500

Net Section 1231 loss in Year 1                  (12,000)

Net Section 1231 gain in Year 2                 10,500  

Unapplied losses in previous years        (8,000)  

Because there are unapplied losses of $8,000 from previous years, $8,000 will be reported as ordinary gain.

Therefore, the amount to be reported as capital gain can be calculated as follows:

Amount to be reported as capital gain = Gain in Year 5 – Amount to be reported as ordinary gain = $9,000 - $8,000 = $1,000

Therefore, $1,000 will be reported as capital gain, while $8,000 will be reported as ordinary gain.