Small Business

A partial list of transactions include:
Section 1245 Property including depreciable Personal and Real Property
Section 179 deduction
A Single purpose agricultural or horticultural structure
A nonpetroleum storage facility
Clean Fuel vehicles
Section 1250 property inclusive of depreciable real property when an accelerated depreciation method was used
Real property when ACRS depreciation method was used
disposition of certain Farmland
gain on dispositions of Oil and Gas properties that included depletion and IDC expenses

Report gain or loss on the sale of depreciable property on Form 4797.
The gain realized on the sale of depreciable personal property (Section 1245 property) is treated as Ordinary income to the extent the gain is atrributed to depreciation that reduced basis.

Section 1231 transactions are reported on Form 4797 part 1.
A partial list of of Section 1231 transactions include Sales or exchanges of :
real or depreciable property used in a trade or business and held more than 1 year.
Timber, Coal, Cattle Horses or Livestock.

Intangible property is any personal property that has value but cannot be seen or touched. It includes such items as the goodwill value of a business, patents, copyrights.
Gain or loss on the sale or exchange of amortizable or depreciable intangible property held longer than 1 year (other than an amount recaptured as ordinary income) is a section 1231 gain or loss.
Gain or loss on dispositions of other intangible property is ordinary or capital depending on whether the property is a capital asset or a noncapital asset.

Depreciable assets such as buildings, land, machinery and equipment held more than one year are classified as (IRC) Section 1231 property.
The sale triggers a taxable event (gain or loss) that is reported on IRS Form 4797, Sale of Business Property, Part 1.

Business assets are things of value that are used in a business. The assets are of two types:
Tangible assets, Cash and Receivables, Inventory like business vehicles, equipment, supplies, and buildings.
Intangible assets, like goodwill copyrights, patents, and trademarks.

Generally, if you exchange business or investment property solely for business or investment property of a like-kind, no gain or loss is recognized under Internal Revenue Code Section 1031.
If, as part of the exchange, you also receive other (not like-kind) property or money, gain is recognized to the extent of the other property and money received, but a loss is not recognized.
Section 1031 does not apply to exchanges of inventory, stocks, bonds, notes, other securities or evidence of indebtedness, or certain other assets.

Properties are of like-kind, if they are of the same nature or character, even if they differ in grade or quality. Personal properties of a like class are like-kind properties.
However, livestock of different sexes are not like-kind properties.
Also, personal property used predominantly in the United States and personal property used predominantly outside the United States is not like-kind properties.
Real properties generally are of like-kind, regardless of whether the properties are improved or unimproved. However, real property in the United States and real property outside the United States are not like-kind properties.

You must know the basis of your property to determine whether you have a gain or loss from its sale or other disposition.
The basis of property you buy is usually its cost minus any depreciation taken.
However, if you acquired the property by gift, inheritance, or in some way other than buying it, you must use a basis other than its cost.