My purchase contract is signed but not closed by day 180. Does the signed contract count?

The rule is receipt, and a contract only promises a future transfer

Section 1031(a)(3)(B) treats property as not like-kind if it "is received after the earlier of" the 180th day or your return's due date with extensions. Reg. section 1.1031(k)-1(d)(1) says identified property is received in time only if "the taxpayer receives the replacement property before the end of the exchange period."

A signed contract gives you a right to buy. Until the closing, the seller holds title, collects the rent and carries the risk of a fire, which is why the date you enter on line 6 of Form 8824 is the date you received the property, not the date you agreed to buy it.

Delays outside your control do not change that. The IRS fact sheet says the time limits "cannot be extended for any circumstance or hardship except in the case of presidentially declared disasters," a point covered in lender and seller delays.

Before day 180 you can still close a different name on your list, or part of the one you want

Your identification list is the menu. Any property on it that can close by day 180 still qualifies, even if it was your second or third choice; a dead or delayed contract does not knock the others off.

A DST interest is the name most likely to close in time, because the trust already owns, finances and leases its property. The client reports that traditional DST purchases often close within 3 to 5 business days, and the mechanics are in how quickly a DST can close.

You may also close a smaller part of the property you named if it is substantially the same; the regulation's Example 4 accepts 1.5 acres of a listed two-acre parcel. Closing without the lender, using exchange money and outside cash, is a third route where the seller will cooperate.

Worked example: a lender delay on day 170, and a DST that saves the exchange

Hypothetical, round figures; run your own numbers with your CPA. You sold a rental with no mortgage on Monday March 2, 2026 for $1,000,000; $950,000 sits with the intermediary and your realized gain is $550,000. Day 180 is Saturday August 29, 2026. Your list names building A at $950,000 and a $950,000 interest in a DST as a backup.

On day 170 the lender on building A pushes funding to mid-September. If nothing else closes, all $550,000 of gain is recognized. If you subscribe to the DST for the full $950,000 and it funds on day 176, the exchange is complete and fully deferred.

Had the backup been sized at $500,000, the remaining $450,000 would come back to you as boot and $450,000 of the gain would be taxed. You can still buy building A in September, with new financing and outside money, as an ordinary purchase.

If nothing closes, the exchange fails and the timing of the tax follows the regulations

Once you have identified property, the exchange agreement may release your money only after you receive everything you are entitled to, or after a written contingency beyond your control, under paragraph (g)(6). In practice the money comes back after the exchange period ends; the details are in when the QI releases funds.

The gain is reported as a sale, but paragraph (j)(2) can let installment reporting move it to the following year when the payout lands there. What the failure costs, and what it does not, is set out in whether a failed exchange carries a penalty.

Your checklist from the day the contract starts to slip

The decisions get worse each day closer to day 180, so make them at the first sign of delay.

• Confirm your exact day 180 and whether your return's due date comes first; see keeping all 180 days.
• Reread your identification notice and list every name that could still close.
• Ask the DST sponsor for availability and subscription documents now; accreditation paperwork is usually the slow part.
• Ask the seller about an earlier all-cash closing or a partial closing of a separable parcel.
• Do not sign any amendment that moves the replacement closing past day 180 and still call it part of the exchange.