Basis, in the context of commercial real estate, is the original purchase price or cost of investment property plus any out-of-pocket expenses or closing costs related to the acquisition of the property. Also known as “cost basis” or “tax basis”.
For example, if an investor purchases a property for $1,000,000 and pays $10,000 for title insurance and another $10,000 in loan fees, their initial basis in the property would be $1,020,000.
It is important to note that a taxpayer’s tax basis in a given asset may include several other adjusting factors such as accumulated depreciation deductions claimed during the time of ownership or the value of deferred capital gains from tax deferred exchanges executing during the acquisition of the asset. This is known as Adjusted Basis.
