You don’t just receive an award.
You get a plan for what happens after.
Your attorney is fighting for the award. Your CPA will report it next spring. What you keep is decided in between. Most owners take the award, sign, and find out later that there were choices.
Know what you keep. Then keep more of it.
Knowing the number is the first step. You will not only learn what the tax is, you will see what can be done about it. We review your settlement and lay out every option to legally defer, reduce, or eliminate the tax, so more of your own capital stays working for you instead of going out in tax.
Reducing the tax is not only paying less. It is keeping more of your own capital in play.
Questions property owners ask us first.
Plain answers on eminent domain tax: whether proceeds are taxable, how capital gains on an eminent domain settlement work, and what can still change before you sign. The full list of questions lives on the What We Do page. Every situation is different, always confirm specifics with your attorney and CPA.
Usually some of it is. The IRS generally treats a taking like a sale, so the amount above your cost basis is typically taxable gain. Interest and certain damages can be taxed as ordinary income instead. How the payment is structured and documented shapes the final answer.
Later than most owners expect. The period generally begins on the first day of the tax year after the year the gain is realized, and runs two to three years depending on the type of property. Because the start is delayed, the end date is easy to misjudge.
Gross proceeds, and only that. The form says nothing about your basis, your gain, or a Section 1033 election. Your return has to reconcile it with the settlement documents, which is far easier when those documents were reviewed with tax in mind.
Curious what your taxes could be on that offer?
Five plain questions give you a first estimate of the gap between the offer and what you may keep after tax.
Estimate my tax exposure →If a taking is underway, the timing matters.
Start with a free call. We will tell you whether we can help, and sometimes the answer is that you do not need us.