How do I report a 1031 exchange with multiple properties or DSTs on Form 8824?

Three rentals into two replacements is still a single form

Nothing on Form 8824 asks for a property count. Lines 1 and 2 take descriptions, which can list several addresses, and the rest of the form works on totals.

The instructions reserve the plural treatment for multiple exchanges, not multiple properties: "If you made more than one like-kind exchange, you can file a summary on one Form 8824 and attach your own statement showing all the information requested on Form 8824 for each exchange."

On that summary form you enter only your name and identifying number, the word "Summary" on line 1, the total recognized gain from all exchanges on line 23 and the total basis of all like-kind property received on line 25. Everything else lives on the attached statements.

The practical test is how many exchange agreements your intermediary opened. Two agreements, two sets of 45-day notices and two pools of funds are two exchanges; one agreement covering several closings is one, however many deeds were signed.

When you skip lines 12 through 18 and attach your own computation instead

The multi-asset rule is narrower than it sounds. A multi-asset exchange "involves the transfer and receipt of more than one group of like-kind properties," and the transfer or receipt of several properties within one like-kind group counts too.

The reporting instruction applies where you transferred and received more than one group of like-kind properties, or cash or other non-like-kind property. In that case you leave lines 12 through 18 blank, attach a statement showing how you figured the realized and recognized gain, and enter the right amounts on lines 19 through 25.

For real estate exchanges after 2017 this rarely bites, because only real property qualifies and it forms a single group. It resurfaces when non-like-kind property changes hands on both sides, and the computation then follows Regulations section 1.1031(j)-1.

Selling three properties: one exchange or three?

The answer is set by the paperwork, not by the number of closings. Properties sold under one exchange agreement, with the proceeds pooled by one intermediary and applied to a common set of replacements, are one exchange on one form.

Both deadlines then run from the earliest of the transfers, so the third seller effectively has fewer than 45 days to identify. Whether one property into several, or several into one, is allowed at all is the prior question.

Sales that straddle two tax years cannot share a form, because each Form 8824 belongs to the return for the year of its own transfer. A November and a February closing are two returns whatever the exchange agreement says.

Each trust interest is a replacement property, not a security position

Describe a Delaware statutory trust on line 2 the way you would describe a building: the trust's name, the underlying property or portfolio, and your percentage interest. You are treated as owning an undivided interest in the real estate itself, which is why the interest qualifies as like-kind at all.

Dollar amounts come from the closing statement and the sponsor's confirmation: your equity, your share of any nonrecourse debt at the trust level, and the closing date that goes toward line 6. A trust with no debt contributes nothing to the debt side of line 15 or line 18.

Two trusts plus a direct purchase are three replacements on one form, and the closing date on line 6 should be the last of them, since the exchange is not complete until you have received everything. Whether the trust's own loan counts as replacement debt decides whether your line 15 shows mortgage boot.

Three rentals into a retail building and a trust: $2,400,000 across one form

Hypothetical, round figures, closing costs already netted out of the sale figures. Three rentals sold under one exchange agreement realize $2,400,000 together, carry $700,000 of combined adjusted basis and have $800,000 of mortgages paid off, leaving $1,600,000 with the intermediary.

• Replacements: a $1,300,000 retail building with a new $550,000 loan, taking $750,000 of cash, and a trust interest with $850,000 of equity plus $250,000 of allocated nonrecourse debt, a $1,100,000 value.
• Line 15: zero. The $800,000 of debt discharged is matched by $800,000 assumed, and no cash came back.
• Line 16: $2,400,000. Line 18: $700,000. Line 19: $1,700,000 realized, all deferred on line 24.
• Line 25: $700,000, allocated $379,167 to the retail building ($1,300,000 of $2,400,000) and $320,833 to the trust interest.
• Line 25a takes the §1250 share of each, with line 25b used only if either replacement delivered §1245 property.
• Variant: leave $20,000 unspent and line 15 becomes $20,000, line 23 becomes $20,000, line 24 drops to $1,680,000 and line 25 stays at $700,000.

The allocation matters more than the total, because each replacement gets its own schedule

Regulations section 1.1031(j)-1(c) requires the aggregate basis to be "allocated proportionately to each property received in the exchange group in accordance with its fair market value," and the Form 8824 instructions repeat the requirement for lines 25a through 25c.

That split is what your depreciation software needs. Each replacement is then divided again between the carried-over portion and the trade-up portion, so a two-replacement exchange produces four schedules.

Keep the allocation worksheet with the form, because the next exchange or sale of either property starts from its share and nothing else records it. Have your CPA or attorney confirm the split before the return is filed.