TAM addresses like-kind exchange of intangibles.

• Author: Tran, Stephanie
• Position: Technical Advice Memorandum

There is relatively little IRS guidance on exchanges of intangible property under Sec. 1031. In Technical Advice Memorandum (TAM) 200224004, the IRS held Federal Communications Commission (FCC) television licenses were like-kind to FCC radio licenses, by focusing on the underlying property's fundamental nature (i.e., a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum), rather than on asset use. However, recently issued TAM 200602034 suggests a substantially more restrictive IRS attitude.

TAM 200602034

The taxpayer was a multi-tiered corporation with several subsidiary corporations. Acting through its subsidiaries, it transferred and acquired various intellectual property (IP) that included patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets, in transactions it intended to qualify as Sec. 1031 like-kind exchanges. One seller of the IP that the taxpayer acquired in an exchange had facilities in a foreign country.

The taxpayer claimed like-kind exchange treatment on the IP exchanges under Sec. 1031. The IRS disallowed most of them.

Like-Kind Requirement

For intangible property, relinquished property is like-kind to the replacement property only if the Regs. Sec. 1.1031 (a)-2(c) two-prong test is met, concerning the nature or character (1) of the rights involved and (2) of the underlying property to which the intangible personal property relates. Also, according to Regs. Sec. 1.1031(a)-2(c)(2), a business's goodwill and going-concern value are not like-kind to the goodwill and the going-concern value of another business.

In TAM 200602034, the IRS discussed three categories of IP: (1) patents, (2) trade names and trademarks and (3) unregistered IP (e.g., customer lists, knowhow and other trade secrets). As to patents, it held the first prong of the test was met if a patent was exchanged for another patent. However, in applying the second prong, it rejected the taxpayer's use of the patent law classification system in grouping the exchanged patents into one of four broad groups (machine, process, manufacture and composition of matter) and instead applied the six-digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) product codes (applicable in determining like-class for depreciable tangible personal property) in determining whether the underlying properties were like-kind.

The IRS also concluded no trade name or trademark could be like-kind to one another, as the IP's underlying assets consist of goodwill or going concern unique to each business...