Does the 180-day clock start at closing or at recording of the deed?

Day zero is the closing that completes your sale, because the rule follows the disposition, not the deed

Reg. section 1.1031(k)-1(b)(2)(ii) says the exchange period "begins on the date the taxpayer transfers the relinquished property," and paragraph (b)(2)(iv) adds that "property is transferred when the property is disposed of within the meaning of section 1001(a)." Recording is not in the test. The deed's recording stamp gives public notice of a transfer that has already happened.

Both periods share that start. How to pick day zero when funding, possession and recording fall on different days is set out in when the 45-day clock starts; the 180-day period uses the same answer, and the 45 days run inside the 180, not before them.

A late recording therefore buys you nothing. If escrow funds on a Friday and the county stamps the deed nine days later, those nine days were never yours.

The finish line is receipt of the replacement, and the safe reading is the later of signing and funding

Section 1031(a)(3)(B) treats replacement property as not like-kind if it is "received after the earlier of" day 180 or the return due date, and paragraph (d)(1) of the regulation requires that "the taxpayer receives the replacement property before the end of the exchange period." Form 8824's instructions ask for that receipt date on line 6.

Receipt means you acquired the property, not that you signed for it. On the purchase side the cautious rule flips: where documents are signed one day and the lender or escrow funds the next, a so-called dry closing, treat the funding day as receipt, because until then the seller still owns the property.

Recording lag after funding does not hurt you on the purchase either. A deed delivered and funded on day 179 and recorded on day 183 was received on day 179.

Worked example: a June sale, a December purchase and a dry closing

Hypothetical dates; run your own calendar with your intermediary and CPA. Escrow on your sale funds and releases the deed on Thursday June 4, 2026, and the county records it on Monday June 8. Day 180 is Tuesday December 1, 2026. Counting from the recording would put it at December 5, four days that do not exist.

Your replacement purchase is scheduled to sign on Monday November 30. The buyer's lender wires on Wednesday December 2 and escrow releases the deed that afternoon. You received the property on December 2, day 181, and it is treated as not like-kind; the exchange fails for that property.

Move the signing to November 25 with funding on November 27, or make the purchase all-cash from exchange funds, and the problem disappears. A lender's delay does not extend anything.

A late-year sale can lose days to the tax return due date before day 180 ever arrives

The period ends on the earlier of day 180 and "the due date (including extensions)" of your return for the year of the sale. A sale that closes Monday November 2, 2026 has a day 180 of Saturday May 1, 2027, but an individual's 2026 return is due April 15, 2027, which ends the exchange 16 days early.

Filing an extension restores those days; filing the return first ends the exchange. The cut-off dates and forms are in whether you need a tax extension to keep 180 days. Weekends and holidays move neither date, as covered in the weekend and holiday rule.

Get the dates in writing and leave a buffer at the end

The IRS fact sheet on like-kind exchanges says the time limits "cannot be extended for any circumstance or hardship except in the case of presidentially declared disasters." Plan as though the last week does not exist.

• Ask your intermediary to confirm the transfer date, day 45 and day 180 in writing on the day the sale funds.
• Keep the settlement statement and the wire confirmation; they prove day zero better than the recorded deed.
• Schedule the replacement to fund at least several business days before day 180, and before April 15 for a late-year sale unless you have extended.
• If the purchase is financed, ask the lender whether it funds at signing or the next day.
• If a direct purchase is at risk, a DST interest already on your list can often close in days; see how quickly a DST can close.