Golden exchanged land that he held for 4 years as an investment, with a tax basis of $36,000, for similar land valued at $40,000 which was owned by Silver. In connection with this transaction, Golden assumed Silver’s $10,000 mortgage and Silver assumed Golden’s $12,000 mortgage. As a result of this transaction Golden should report a long-term capital gain of
A. $0
B. $2,000
C. $4,000
D. $6,000
Answer:B
This answer is correct because in a like-kind exchange of investment property, a realized gain is recognized to the extent of un-like (boot) property received. Here, boot includes the assumption of a liability. Since Silver’s assumption of $12,000 exceeds Golden’s assumption of $10,000, there is net boot received of $2,000.