IRS Tax Forms  
Publication 598 2001 Tax Year

Deductions

The deductions allowed for each debt-financed property are determined by applying the debt/basis percentage to the sum of allowable deductions.

The allowable deductions are those directly connected with the debt-financed property or with the income from it (including the dividends-received deduction), except that:

  1. The allowable deductions are subject to the modifications for computation of the unrelated business taxable income (discussed in chapter 4), and
  2. The depreciation deduction, if allowable, is computed only by use of the straight-line method.

To be directly connected with debt-financed property or with the income from it, a deductible item must have proximate and primary relationship to the property or income. Expenses, depreciation, and similar items attributable solely to the property qualify for deduction, to the extent they meet the requirements of an allowable deduction.

For example, if the straight-line depreciation allowance for an office building is $10,000 a year, an organization can deduct depreciation of $10,000 if the entire building is debt-financed property. However, if only half of the building is debt-financed property, the depreciation allowed as a deduction is $5,000.

Capital losses. If a sale or exchange of debt-financed property results in a capital loss, the loss taken into account in the tax year in which the loss arises is computed as provided under Gain From Sale or Other Disposition of Property, earlier in this chapter.

If any part of the allowable capital loss is not taken into account in the current tax year, it may be carried back or carried over to another tax year without application of the debt/basis percentage for that year.

Example. X, an exempt educational organization, owned debt-financed securities that were capital assets. Last year, X sold the securities at a loss of $20,000. The debt/basis percentage for computing the loss from the sale of the securities is 40%. Thus, X sustained a capital loss of $8,000 (40% of $20,000) on the sale of the securities. Last year and the preceding 3 tax years, X had no other capital transactions. Under these circumstances, the $8,000 of capital loss may be carried over to succeeding years without further application of the debt/basis percentage.

Net operating loss. If, after applying the debt/basis percentage to the income from debt-financed property and the deductions directly connected with this income, the deductions exceed the income, an organization has a net operating loss for the tax year. This amount may be carried back or carried over to other tax years in the same manner as any other net operating loss of an organization with unrelated business taxable income. (For a discussion of the net operating loss deduction, see Deductions under Modifications in chapter 4.) However, the debt/basis percentage is not applied in those other tax years to determine the deductions that may be taken in those years.

Example. Last year, Y, an exempt organization, received $20,000 of rent from a debt-financed building that it owns. Y had no other unrelated business taxable income for the year. The deductions directly connected with this building were property taxes of $5,000, interest of $5,000 on the acquisition indebtedness, and salary of $15,000 to the building manager. The debt/basis percentage with respect to the building was 50%. Under these circumstances, Y must take into account, in computing its unrelated business taxable income, $10,000 (50% of $20,000) of income and $12,500 (50% of $25,000) of the deductions directly connected with that income.

Thus, Y sustained a net operating loss of $2,500 ($10,000 of income less $12,500 of deductions), which may be carried back or carried over to other tax years without further application of the debt/basis percentage.

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