SECTION 1. Section 2.01 of the
Internal Revenue Bulletin 2004-3 · 2026-10-03 edition · updated 2026-10-04 · United States
APPENDIX of Rev. Proc 2002–9 is deleted and replaced with the following:
“.01 Impermissible to permissible method of accounting for depreciation or amortization .
(1) Description of change and scope . (a) Applicability . This change applies to a taxpayer that wants to change from an impermissible to a permissible method of accounting for depreciation or amortization (depreciation) for any item of depreciable or amortizable property:
(i) for which the taxpayer used the impermissible method of accounting in at least the two taxable years immediately preceding the year of change (but see section 2.01(1)(b) of this APPENDIX for property placed in service in the taxable year immediately preceding the year of change);
(ii) for which the taxpayer is making a change in method of accounting under § 1.446–1T(e)(2)(ii)( d );
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(B) a change in the character of a transaction from sale to lease, or vice versa (but see section 2.03 of this APPENDIX for making this change);
(xiv) a change from determining depreciation under § 168 to determining depreciation under former § 168 for any property subject to the transition rules in § 203(b) or 204(a) of the Tax Reform Act of 1986, 1986–3 (Vol. 1) C.B. 1, 60–80; or (xv) any change in the placed-in-service date of a depreciable or amortizable property. This change is corrected by adjustments in the applicable taxable year provided under § 1.446–1T(e)(2)(ii)( d )( 3 )( v ).
(2) Additional requirements . A taxpayer also must comply with the following:
(a) Permissible method of accounting for depreciation . A taxpayer must change to a permissible method of accounting for depreciation for the item of depreciable or amortizable property. The permissible method of accounting is the same method that determines the depreciation allowable for the item of property (as provided in section 2.01(5) of this APPENDIX).
(b) Statements required . A taxpayer must provide the following statements, if applicable, and attach them to the completed application:
(i) a detailed description of the former and new methods of accounting. A general description of these methods of accounting is unacceptable (for example, MACRS to MACRS, erroneous method to proper method, claiming less than the depreciation allowable to claiming the depreciation allowable);
(ii) to the extent not provided elsewhere on the application, a statement describing the taxpayer’s business or income-producing activities. Also, if the taxpayer has more than one business or income-producing activity, a statement describing the taxpayer’s business or income-producing activity in which the item of property at issue is primarily used by the taxpayer;
(iii) to the extent not provided elsewhere on the application, a statement of the facts and law supporting the new method of accounting, new classification of the item of property, and new asset class in, as appropriate, Rev. Proc. 87–56 or Rev. Proc. 83–35. If the taxpayer is the owner and lessor of the item of property at issue, the statement of the facts and law supporting the new asset class also must describe
(iv) any property subject to § 167(g) (regarding property depreciated under the income forecast method);
(v) any § 1250 property that a taxpayer is reclassifying to an asset class of Rev. Proc. 87–56, 1987–2 C.B. 674, or Rev. Proc. 83–35, 1983–1 C.B. 745, as appropriate, that does not explicitly include § 1250 property (for example, asset class 57.0, Distributive Trades and Services); (vi) any property for which a taxpayer is revoking a timely valid election, or making a late election, under § 167, § 168, § 1400I, § 1400L, former § 168, or § 13261(g)(2) or (3) of the Revenue Reconciliation Act of 1993 (1993 Act), 1993–3 C.B. 1, 128 (relating to amortizable § 197 intangibles). A taxpayer may request consent to revoke or make the election by submitting a request for a letter ruling under Rev. Proc. 2003–1, 2003–1 I.R.B. 1 (or any successor). See § 1.446–1T(e)(2)(ii)( d )( 3 )( iii );
(vii) any property for which depreciation is determined under § 56(g)(4)(A) or § 167 (other than under § 168, § 1400I, § 1400L, or former § 168) and a taxpayer is changing the useful life of the property. A change in the useful life of property is corrected by adjustments in the applicable taxable year provided under § 1.446–1T(e)(2)(ii)( d )( 3 )( i ). However, this section 2.01(1)(d)(vii) of this APPENDIX does not apply if the taxpayer is changing to or from a useful life, recovery period, or amortization period that is specifically assigned by the Internal Revenue Code (for example, § 167(f)(1), § 168(c)), the regulations thereunder, or other guidance published in the Internal Revenue Bulletin and, therefore, this change is a change in method of accounting (unless section 2.01(1)(d)(xv) of this APPENDIX applies). See § 1.446–1T(e)(2)(ii)( d )( 3 )( i );
(viii) any depreciable property for which the use changes in the hands of the same taxpayer. See § 1.446–1T(e)(2)(ii)( d )( 3 )( ii );
(ix) any property for which depreciation is determined in accordance with § 1.167(a)–11 (regarding the Class Life Asset Depreciation Range System (ADR));
(x) any change in method of accounting involving a change from deducting the cost or other basis of any property as an expense to capitalizing and depreciating the cost or other basis;
(xi) any change in method of accounting involving a change from one permissible method of accounting for the property to another permissible method of accounting for the property. For example:
(A) a change from the straight-line method of depreciation to the income forecast method of depreciating for videocassettes. See Rev. Rul. 89–62, 1989–1 C.B. 78; or
(B) a change from charging the depreciation reserve with costs of removal and crediting the depreciation reserve with salvage proceeds to deducting costs of removal as an expense (provided the costs of removal are not required to be capitalized under any provision of the Code, such as, § 263(a)) and including salvage proceeds in taxable income (see section 2.02 of this APPENDIX for making this change for property for which depreciation is determined under § 167);
(xii) any change in method of accounting involving both a change from treating the cost or other basis of the property as nondepreciable or nonamortizable property to treating the cost or other basis of the property as depreciable or amortizable property and the adoption of a method of accounting for depreciation requiring an election under § 167, § 168, § 1400I, § 1400L(b), former § 168, or § 13261(g)(2) or (3) of the 1993 Act (for example, a change in the treatment of the space consumed in landfills placed in service in 1990 from nondepreciable to depreciable property (assuming section 2.01(1)(d)(xiii) of the APPENDIX does not apply) and the making of an election under § 168(f)(1) to depreciate this property under the unit of production method of depreciation under § 167);
(xiii) any change in method of accounting for any item of income or deduction other than depreciation, even if the change results in a change in computing depreciation under § 1.446–1T(e)(2)(ii)( d )( 2 )( i ), ( ii ), ( iii ), ( iv ), ( v ), ( vi ), ( vii ), or ( viii ). For example, a change in method of accounting involving:
(A) a change in inventory costs (for example, when property is reclassified from inventory property to depreciable property, or vice versa) (but see section 3.02 of this APPENDIX for making a change from inventory property to depreciable property for unrecoverable line pack gas or unrecoverable cushion gas); or
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described in section 2.01(1)(b) of this APPENDIX that is included in the taxpayer’s Form 3115), for open and closed years prior to the year of change. However, the amount of the § 481(a) adjustment must be adjusted to account for the proper amount of the depreciation allowable that is required to be capitalized under any provision of the Code (for example, § 263A) at the beginning of the year of change.
(4) Basis adjustment . As of the beginning of the year of change, the basis of depreciable property to which section 2.01 of this APPENDIX applies must reflect the reductions required by § 1016(a)(2) for the depreciation allowable for the property (as determined under section 2.01(5) of this APPENDIX).
(5) Meaning of depreciation allowable . (a) In general . Section 2.01(5) of this APPENDIX provides the amount of the depreciation allowable determined under § 56(a)(1), § 56(g)(4)(A), § 167, § 168, § 197, § 1400I, or § 1400L(c), or former § 168. This amount, however, may be limited by other provisions of the Code (for example, § 280F).
(b) Section 56(a)(1) property . The depreciation allowable for any taxable year for property for which depreciation is determined under § 56(a)(1) is determined by using the depreciation method, recovery period, and convention provided for under § 56(a)(1) that applies for the property’s placed-in-service date.
(c) Section 56(g)(4)(A) property . The depreciation allowable for any taxable year for property for which depreciation is determined under § 56(g)(4)(A) is determined by using the depreciation method, recovery period or useful life, as applicable, and convention provided for under § 56(g)(4)(A) that applies for the property’s placed-in-service date.
(d) Section 167 property . Generally, for any taxable year, the depreciation allowable for property for which depreciation is determined under § 167, is determined either:
(i) under the depreciation method adopted by a taxpayer for the property; or
(ii) if that depreciation method does not result in a reasonable allowance for depreciation or a taxpayer has not adopted a depreciation method for the property, under the straight-line depreciation method.
the business or income-producing activity in which that item of property is primarily used by the lessee;
(iv) to the extent not provided elsewhere on the application, a statement identifying the year in which the item of property was placed in service;
(v) if the item of property is depreciated under former § 168, a statement identifying the asset class in Rev. Proc. 83–35 that applies under the taxpayer’s former and new methods of accounting (if none, state and explain);
(vi) if any item of property is public utility property within the meaning of § 168(i)(10) or former § 167(l)(3)(A), as applicable, a statement providing that the taxpayer agrees to the following additional terms and conditions:
(A) a normalization method of accounting (within the meaning of former § 167(l)(3)(G), former § 168(e)(3)(B), or § 168(i)(9), as applicable) will be used for the public utility property subject to the application;
(B) as of the beginning of the year of change, the taxpayer will adjust its deferred tax reserve account or similar reserve account in the taxpayer’s regulatory books of account by the amount of the deferral of federal income tax liability associated with the § 481(a) adjustment applicable to the public utility property subject to the application; and
(C) within 30 calendar days of filing the federal income tax return for the year of change, the taxpayer will provide a copy of the completed application to any regulatory body having jurisdiction over the public utility property subject to the application;
(vii) if the taxpayer is changing the classification of an item of § 1250 property placed in service after August 19, 1996, to a retail motor fuels outlet under § 168(e)(3)(E)(iii), a statement containing the following representation: “For purposes of § 168(e)(3)(E)(iii) of the Internal Revenue Code, the taxpayer represents that (A) 50 percent or more of the gross revenue generated from the item of § 1250 property is from the sale of petroleum products (not including gross revenue from related services, such as the labor cost of oil changes and gross revenue from the sale of nonpetroleum products such as tires and oil filters), (B) 50 percent or more of the floor space in the item of property
is devoted to the sale of petroleum products (not including floor space devoted to related services, such as oil changes and floor space devoted to nonpetroleum products such as tires and oil filters), or (C) the time of § 1250 property is 1,400 square feet or less.”; and
(viii) if the taxpayer is changing the classification of an item of property from § 1250 property to § 1245 property under § 168 or former § 168, a statement of the facts and law supporting the new § 1245 property classification, and a statement containing the following representation: “Each item of depreciable property that is the subject of the application filed under section 2.01 of the APPENDIX of Rev. Proc. 2002–9 for the year of change beginning [Insert the date], and that is reclassified from [Insert, as appro- priate: nonresidential real property, resi- dential rental property, 19-year real prop- erty, 18-year real property, or 15-year real property] to an asset class of [Insert, as appropriate, either: Rev. Proc. 87–56, 1987–2 C.B. 674, or Rev. Proc. 83–35, 1983–1 C.B. 745] that does not explicitly include § 1250 property, is § 1245 property for depreciation purposes.”
(3) Section 481(a) adjustment . Because the adjusted basis of the property is changed as a result of a method change made under section 2.01 of this APPENDIX ( see section 2.01(4) of this APPENDIX), items are duplicated or omitted. Accordingly, this change is made with a § 481(a) adjustment. This adjustment may result in either a negative § 481(a) adjustment (a decrease in taxable income) or a positive § 481(a) adjustment (an increase in taxable income) and may be a different amount for regular tax, alternative minimum tax, and adjusted current earnings purposes. This § 481(a) adjustment equals the difference between the total amount of depreciation taken into account in computing taxable income for the property under the taxpayer’s former method of accounting (including the amount attributable to any property described in section 2.01(1)(b) of this APPENDIX that is included in the taxpayer’s Form 3115), and the total amount of depreciation allowable for the property under the taxpayer’s new method of accounting (as determined under section 2.01(5) of this APPENDIX, and including the amount attributable to any property
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ing ratably over the 120-month period beginning with the month in which the building is placed in service, the depreciation allowable is determined in accordance with this election.
(i) Qualified New York Liberty Zone leasehold improvement property . The depreciation allowable for any taxable year for qualified New York Liberty Zone leasehold improvement property (as defined in § 1400L(c)(2)) is determined by using the depreciation method and recovery period prescribed in § 1400L(c).”
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