1031 Exchange Rules in Florida
for 2026

Both clocks start the day your relinquished property closes and the qualified intermediary receives the proceeds. From that Day 0 you have 45 calendar days to deliver a written, signed identification of replacement property to your QI, and 180 calendar days (or your tax-return due date with extensions, whichever comes first) to close. Weekends and holidays count. Outside federally declared disaster relief, nobody can extend either deadline: not your QI, not your attorney, not the IRS agent you call on Day 46.

Identification follows one of three rules. The 3-property rule: identify up to three properties of any value, and you may acquire any of them. The 200 percent rule: identify any number of properties as long as their combined value does not exceed twice the relinquished sale price. The 95 percent rule: exceed both limits, but then you must actually acquire 95 percent of the identified value, which is why almost nobody uses it. Most of our exchange clients identify three: a primary target and two genuine backups that have been underwritten, not just listed.

For real estate, like-kind is far broader than the name suggests: any US real property held for investment or for productive use in a trade or business is like-kind to any other. Vacant land into a leased retail building, a fourplex into an industrial condo, farmland into a net-leased pharmacy: all valid. This is what makes the exchange such a powerful repositioning tool, and it is why exchangers leaving management-heavy assets so often land in net lease properties.

What does not qualify: your primary residence, property held primarily for resale (dealer inventory and flips), partnership interests, and, since the 2017 tax act, all personal property. Vacation homes sit in a gray zone with specific rental-use safe harbors. Both legs of the exchange must also be US property; foreign real estate is only like-kind to other foreign real estate.

Florida levies no state income tax on individuals, so a Florida resident completing an exchange defers federal capital gains with no state layer stacked on top. Just as important for relocating investors: several states assert a claim on deferred gain that originated within their borders (California is the famous example, with an annual information-reporting requirement), so exchanging out of a high-tax state into Florida does not always erase the old state’s claim. The order of operations matters, and it is CPA territory.

Florida-specific closing mechanics still apply: documentary stamp tax on the deed (70 cents per 100 dollars in most counties, different in Miami-Dade), intangible tax on new mortgages, and county-level recording costs. None of these break an exchange, but they belong in your net-proceeds math before you size the replacement purchase. Our 1031 exchange calculator helps you frame the reinvestment target.

Boot is any non-like-kind value you walk away with: leftover cash because you bought cheaper than you sold, or debt relief because the new loan is smaller than the old one. Boot does not kill the exchange, it just gets taxed. The working rule for full deferral: equal or greater value, all net equity reinvested, and equal or greater debt (or fresh cash to offset the difference).

Related-party exchanges carry their own regime under Section 1031(f): exchanges with close family or controlled entities generally require both parties to hold for two years afterward, and acquiring your replacement FROM a related party draws the most scrutiny. If any related party appears anywhere in your exchange, brief your CPA before you sign a contract, not after.