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Calculator Documentation

Cost Segregation Estimator

Estimate first-year bonus depreciation and tax savings from a cost seg study

Schema version 1.0.0 · Category: investment

Inputs

Property

The building being studied

FieldTypeDefaultNotes
Purchase Pricecurrency$800,000Total acquisition cost including the building
Land Valuepercentage20.00%Land is never depreciable (20-30% typical)
Property Typeselect27.5Sets the straight-line recovery period
Reclassified to Short-Lifepercentage25.00%Cost seg studies typically move 20-35% of basis into 5/7/15-year property

Tax Situation

How the deduction converts to savings

FieldTypeDefaultNotes
Marginal Tax Ratepercentage35.00%Combined federal + state marginal rate
Bonus Depreciationpercentage100.00%100% for property placed in service after Jan 19, 2025
Cost Seg Study Feecurrency$5,000Engineering study fees run $3k-15k by property size

Calculations

Every figure this calculator produces, in evaluation order. Formulas reference input ids, parameters, and earlier calculations.

depreciableBasisBuilding basis (land excluded)
purchasePrice * (1 - landPercent)
reclassifiedAmountBasis moved to 5/7/15-year property
depreciableBasis * reclassPercent
bonusDeductionImmediate bonus depreciation on the reclassified basis
reclassifiedAmount * bonusPercent
remainingBasisYear1Year-1 straight-line on the remaining long-life basis
(depreciableBasis - reclassifiedAmount) / propertyType
yearOneTotalDeductionTotal first-year depreciation with the study
bonusDeduction + remainingBasisYear1
straightLineYear1First-year depreciation without a study
depreciableBasis / propertyType
additionalDeductionExtra first-year deduction the study unlocks
yearOneTotalDeduction - straightLineYear1
firstYearTaxSavingsFirst-year cash tax savings from the study
additionalDeduction * marginalTaxRate
netBenefitSavings net of the study fee
firstYearTaxSavings - studyCost
roiMultipleSavings per dollar of study cost
firstYearTaxSavings / max(studyCost, 1)
studyNotWorthItFlag: 0 = study pays for itself in year one
if(netBenefit > 0, 0, 1)

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