UNICAP rules and exemptions

Description

Abstract: A set of tax rules known as the uniform capitalization (UNICAP) rules require certain business costs that are normally expensed as they’re incurred to instead be capitalized as part of the cost of inventory held for resale or noninventory items produced by a taxpayer for use in its trade or business. The rules are far from new, but a recent Tax Court decision is a reminder that they can be a trap for the unwary. Such was the case, this article explains, for a homebuilder who failed to capitalize a whole host of generally indirect costs that the IRS and the Court found to be related to completing the homes.