Yes, the Internal Revenue Service (hereinafter the "Service") recently issued Private Letter Ruling (hereinafter "PLR") 201404001 on January 24 of 2014 which addresses, amongst other matters, whether zip type wall partitions are tangible personal property for accelerated depreciation purposes.

As an overview and as a reminder, Construction Tax Planning uses a proactive "Pre-Design Phase" approach to identifying additional tax benefits related to new and planned construction projects whether for constructing a new building; adding a new wing to an existing building; or merely renovating a single floor within an existing building.

Construction Tax Planning enables accelerated depreciation deductions through the recommendation of select materials and supplies to be utilized in the "Construction Phase" to ensure that the structural components will be classified as personal property as opposed to real property (e.g., use of a modular wall as opposed to permanently affixing a wall to bifurcate office and / or conference room space within the floor configuration layout will enable the said structural components to be classified as personal property as opposed to real property).

In addition, Form 3115 is never filed as Construction Tax Planning is proactive and not reactive. Noting, there is no need to reclassify asset classifications as all of the structural components of the building envelope are properly classified when they are initially placed into service on a timely filed tax return. This mitigates IRS audit risk as an accounting method change never occurred and therefore Form 3115 is not filed. It should be duly recalled that Accounting Method changes only occur when a transaction is treated a certain way on a tax return (i.e., regardless of correctly or incorrectly) for a period of two years or more.

As a caveat, it should be duly noted that PLR's can't be cited as valid legal precedent when assessing a tax return filing position per Circular 230 unless the PLR was issued by the Service directly to your client. Please contact me to discuss the scope and application of this PLR in connection to your client's facts and circumstances.