Deadlines
The 1031 Exchange Timeline
Two clocks start the day your sale closes. They run at the same time, they count calendar days, and neither can be paused.
The short answer
Both bars start at the same point. The 180 days include the 45 — they are not consecutive. Once identification closes you have 135 days left to negotiate, finance and close a property purchase, not 180.
- Days to identify
- 45Days to identifyIn signed writing
- Days left after that
- 135Days left after thatNot 180 — they overlap
- Identification rules
- 3Identification rulesSatisfy any one
- Discretionary extensions
- 0Discretionary extensionsDisaster relief only
Where Day 0 actually falls
Day 0 is the date title transfers on the property you are selling. Everything counts from there.
It is not the date you signed the contract, not the date the buyer removed contingencies, and not the date the intermediary confirms the wire. Those can all be days or weeks apart, and people have lost exchanges by counting from the wrong one.
| Milestone | Date | Days elapsed |
|---|---|---|
| Relinquished property closes | 12 March | Day 0 |
| Identification deadline | 26 April | Day 45 |
| Completion deadline | 8 September | Day 180 |
The clocks run at the same time
This is the single most misunderstood part of the process. People picture 45 days to choose, then a fresh 180 days to close — 225 days in total. That is not how it works.
Both periods start on Day 0. When your identification deadline passes, you have 135 days left, not 180. If you spend the full 45 days deciding, you have already used a quarter of the time available to negotiate, finance and close a property purchase — which is rarely a fast process.
The three identification rules
Within the 45 days you have to name your candidates under one of three rules. You only need to satisfy one of them, and the first is the one almost everyone uses.
| Rule | How many properties | Value limit |
|---|---|---|
| Three-property rule | Up to three | None — any value, and you may buy one, two or all three |
| 200% rule | Any number | Combined value must not exceed 200% of what you sold |
| 95% rule | Any number | No cap, but you must actually close on at least 95% of the value identified |
The 95% rule is a trap dressed as flexibility. Identify eight properties totalling $10M under it and you must close on at least $9.5M of them, or the whole exchange fails. It exists for portfolio deals, not for keeping options open.
What a valid identification looks like
Identification is a formal document, not a conversation with your agent. To be valid it must be:
- In writing — a phone call or a verbal confirmation does not count.
- Signed by you, the exchanger.
- Unambiguous — a street address or legal description. “A warehouse in the Dallas metro” is not an identification.
- Delivered to your qualified intermediary, or another party to the exchange who is not a disqualified person, on or before midnight of Day 45.
Delivered means received, not sent. Send it with a method that produces a timestamp and a receipt, and do not leave it to the last afternoon.
The tax-return cap on Day 180
The completion deadline is the earlier of 180 days or the due date of your tax return for the year the sale happened, including extensions.
For a sale in the first half of the year this never bites. For a sale in November or December it very much does: an unextended return due 15 April can cut a 180-day window down to something closer to 130. Filing for an extension restores the full period, and your CPA needs to know about the exchange early enough to do that.
| Sale closes | Day 180 falls | Actual deadline without an extension |
|---|---|---|
| 15 March | 11 September | 11 September — full 180 days |
| 1 October | 30 March | 30 March — full 180 days |
| 20 November | 19 May | 15 April — roughly 146 days, unless you extend |
| 28 December | 26 June | 15 April — roughly 108 days, unless you extend |
When deadlines can be extended
Only through IRS disaster relief. When the IRS issues a notice covering a federally declared disaster area, affected taxpayers may be granted additional time — commonly up to 120 days.
Nothing else extends anything. Not a failed loan, not a seller backing out, not an appraisal coming in short, not a government shutdown, not your own illness. The deadlines are statutory. This is why how a 1031 exchange works puts so much weight on preparation before Day 0.
The deadline that surprises people
Ask your CPA about an extension as soon as a late-year closing looks likely. It is a five-minute conversation that can be worth six figures.
Timeline questions
When exactly does the 45-day period start?
On the day title to your relinquished property transfers — the closing date. Not the day you sign the purchase and sale agreement, not the day the buyer's financing is approved, and not the day the funds clear the intermediary's account. If your sale closes on 12 March, Day 1 is 13 March and Day 45 is 26 April.
Do the 45 and 180 days run one after the other?
No, and this is the most common misunderstanding. Both periods start on the same day and run concurrently. The 180-day window includes the 45-day window, so once identification closes you have 135 days left to close, not 180.
Are they business days or calendar days?
Calendar days. Weekends and federal holidays count, and there is no rule that moves a deadline falling on a Saturday, Sunday or holiday to the next business day. A Day 45 that lands on Christmas Day is still Christmas Day.
Can I change my identification after Day 45?
No. Inside the 45-day window you can revoke and re-identify as often as you like, in writing. Once the window closes the list is final, and you can only acquire property that appears on it. This is why experienced exchangers identify backup properties rather than a single target.
What if my replacement property falls through on Day 170?
You can still close on any other property you identified within the 45-day window. If you identified only the one that fell through, the exchange fails and the gain becomes taxable. The three-property rule lets you name two alternates at no cost, which is the cheapest insurance in the process.
Can the 180-day deadline ever be shorter than 180 days?
Yes. The period ends on the earlier of 180 days or the due date of your tax return for the year of the sale, including extensions. A sale closing in late November leaves roughly 135 days before an unextended 15 April filing deadline. Filing for an extension restores the full 180 days.
Don't let the clock run out
The one step that cannot be done afterwards is opening the exchange before your sale closes. Easy1031 sets one up in minutes, at no cost for a standard forward exchange.
Easy1031 publishes this guide. It is a qualified intermediary, so it has a commercial interest in you starting an exchange — worth weighing, and worth comparing against other intermediaries before you commit.