Depreciation recapture is the USA Internal Revenue Service (IRS) procedure for collecting income tax on a gain realized by a taxpayer when the taxpayer disposes of an asset that had previously provided an offset to ordinary income for the taxpayer through depreciation. In other words, because the IRS allows a taxpayer to deduct the depreciation of an asset from the taxpayer's ordinary income, the taxpayer has to report any gain from the disposal of the asset (up to the recomputed basis) as ordinary income, not as a capital gain. Depreciation recapture most commonly applies when dealing with the sale of improved real estate (such as rental property), as the value of real estate generally increases over time while the improvements are subject to depreciation. Depreciation recapture in the USA is governed by sections 1245 and 1250 of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC). Any gain over the recomputed basis will be taxed as a capital gain in accordance with section 1231 of the IRC. This article is about the system used in the US and Canada, but other countries have similar procedures. In the UK, HMRC uses "negative depreciation". Basis The starting point for determining when a depreciation recapture will occur is to determine the basis of the asset. There are three different types of basis: original, adjusted, and recomputed basis. The original basis of an asset is usually the value of a taxpayer's investment in the asset. (See IRC § 1012). When a taxpayer purchases an asset, the original basis is the purchase price, or cost, of the asset. Different factors, including tax deductions for depreciation, can lead to an adjusted or recomputed basis for the asset. (See IRC § 1016 and IRC § 1245(a)(2)(A)). An adjusted basis under IRC 1016 is the original basis of a piece of property plus any increases for improvements to the property or any decreases for depreciation deductions allowed or allowable with respect to such property. So, if a taxpayer buys something for $100,000, and allowable deductions under IRC 167 for the next 3 years are $5000 per year, the taxpayer’s adjusted basis is $85,000. Recomputed basis under IRC 1245(a)(2) basically means, with respect to any property, its adjusted basis recomputed by adding all adjustments reflected on account of deductions allowed or allowable to the taxpayer for depreciation. In the previous example, the taxpayer's recomputed basis would be $100,000 because you add to the