If you own a building or have renovated a building in the last few years, you can likely benefit from a cost segregation study.

Cost segregation studies separate real property into various depreciable categories. Most real property is depreciated over 27.5 years (for residential rental) or 39 years (for nonresidential). By performing a cost segregation study, you can reclassify a portion of that real property into personal property. These newly created asset classes depreciate at a much faster rate—normally 5, 7 or 15 years.

The IRS recently issued guidance on how businesses, self-employed individuals and qualified employees can use the per diem rules to substantiate their business travel expenses for tax purposes. The guidance in Revenue Procedure 2019-48 modifies 2011 guidance to reflect changes made by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).

The per diem rules themselves haven’t significantly changed. Primarily, RP 2019-48 deletes guidance for taxpayers who, before the TCJA, were allowed to deduct certain unreimbursed business travel expenses. Here’s a refresher on what changed under the TCJA and the rules for using per diem rates.