A property-first guide to choosing a cost segregation study
Before comparing providers, define the property and the report you need. A furnished vacation home, a long-term rental and a portfolio can require different records and scope decisions. Stratum's resource center helps owners prepare the property information, compare study proposals and understand what should reach their tax preparer.
Use the guides below in order: define the study, organize the records, compare the deliverables and coordinate the tax review. This keeps the conversation specific to your building and avoids treating a preliminary calculator result as a completed property analysis.
Understand the process and written scope
- Cost segregation services: review available study types.
- How a cost segregation study works: follow the property analysis and report process.
- Cost segregation study pricing: compare fees and included services.
- Study standards and deliverables: evaluate the evidence behind a report.
- How to choose a cost segregation company: prepare questions for competing proposals.
Ask how the provider reconciles analyzed costs to your records, identifies components and supports classifications. Confirm which assumptions appear in the report, what inspection or remote review is proposed, and how questions from the tax preparer are handled. Compare written commitments for your property rather than relying on a headline deduction.
Choose the right property guide
- Short-term rental cost segregation
- Long-term rental cost segregation
- Property type guides
- Furnished rentals, condos, renovations and portfolios
- City and state market guides
A property's furnishings, later improvements and shared systems should be traceable to the relevant records. For multiple properties, keep purchase reconciliations and inventories separate. For a condominium, identify what the owner actually owns before including amenities or common property in the study scope. Market guides describe service coverage and property questions, not local branch offices.
Build your records before requesting a proposal
Start with the closing statement, existing depreciation schedule, acquisition timeline, improvement invoices and available photographs or plans. Record when the property was available for rental and identify periods of personal use. Tell the provider about renovations, removed components and separately purchased furnishings.
Use the study preparation checklist to organize that information. The cost segregation calculator provides an illustrative estimate; the property study and tax review determine the supported treatment.
Stratum studies and AE Tax Advisors planning
Stratum prepares property-level cost segregation analysis. AE Tax Advisors leads the broader tax strategy conversation linked from this website. The owner should confirm study responsibilities, tax implementation work and fees in the respective written engagements.
Read AE Tax Advisors' cost segregation planning resources for the tax side of the decision. AE also provides guides to deduction usability and amended returns and accounting-method changes. The return preparer confirms filing positions for the relevant facts and year.
Questions to resolve before commissioning a study
- Which property, improvements and assets are included?
- What records are missing, and how will estimates be disclosed?
- What report, schedules and supporting documentation will be delivered?
- Who handles implementation, and what work is charged separately?
- Does the expected timing benefit justify the fees for this owner?
Discuss your property with AE Tax Advisors
Study review reference
The IRS Cost Segregation Audit Technique Guide describes examination considerations for property studies. It does not certify providers or guarantee a taxpayer's result.