Reshingling a (very) old roof repair or improvement?

it is a repair under the old and the new rules.

Could you give some citations for that? Since I made this post I've been reading a bunch about the new rules and from what I've read it seems pretty clear this would count as a "restoration" and therefore must be capitalized. There's even an example in the new regulations which is almost exactly my scenario, and it says the work must be capitalized and depreciated.

I thought the example in the regulations, or in the comments to the proposed regulations, indicated the IRS was going to follow the LAW, as explained to them on more than one occasions by the courts, that such a roof **membrane** replacement is a repair. As opposed to a replacement of the membrane PLUS structural components, etc.

Note that the roof is not a separate Unit of Property (UOP), but is part of the building as a whole UOP.

Obviously, the IRS would have liked to make the roof a UOP, but based on the court cases they could not.

What I see as future litigation is how the IRS can impose it rules on other building components which it cannot do for the roof membrane. I would bet that a sewer repair would be ripe for litigation, and the IRS would loose, just as it lost re roof membranes.

I strongly disagree, under the old rules. A roof *membrane* replacement significantly extends the useful life of the roof, over and above what it would have been even if the membrane didn't need replacing.

I don't know about the new rules.

If you could provide specific precedents, I would appreciate seeing them.

The IRS lost time and time again in court.

see, for example

and

T.C. Summary Opinion 2002-117

UNITED STATES TAX COURT

NEVIA CAMPBELL, Petitioner v.

COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent

Docket No. 7122-01S. Filed September 6, 2002.

The IRS lost time and time again in court. see, for example

and T.C. Summary Opinion 2002-117 ... ===============I also seem to remember a more recent TC case about 2003 where a roof paved over with a new covering was a repair expense.

The question is: Is one stripping off the old roof and its supporting structure, or not. If not, then it's clearly a repair.

Thank you. Roofing experts I've contacted disagree with the "facts" in the case, but it appears that the courts don't agree with reality. I suppose I'd have to send any of my clients in that situation to other tax preparers, because I do not believe the "factual finding" of the court is, in fact, accurate.

-- Arthur Rubin CRTP, AFSP in Brea, CA

Your version of reality differs from mine. The court was clearly correct, and I have seen roofers' information that jives.

Perhaps you should post your supralegal position in your advertising. It might save some potential clients some wasted time.