(a) Effective dates—(1) Sections 1.263A-8 through 1.263A-15 generally apply to interest incurred in taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 1995. In the case of property that is inventory in the hands of the taxpayer, however, these sections are effective for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 1995. Changes in methods of accounting necessary as a result of the rules in §§1.263A-8 through 1.263A-15 must be made under the terms and conditions prescribed by the Commissioner. Under these terms and conditions, the principles of §1.263A-7 must be applied in revaluing inventory property.

(2) For taxable years beginning before January 1, 1995, taxpayers must take reasonable positions on their federal income tax returns when applying section 263A(f). For purposes of this paragraph (a)(2), a reasonable position is a position consistent with the temporary regulations, revenue rulings, revenue procedures, notices, and announcements concerning section 263A applicable in taxable years beginning before January 1, 1995. See §601.601(d)(2)(ii)(b) of this chapter. For this purpose, Notice 88-99, 1988-2 C.B. 422, applies to taxable years beginning after August 17, 1988, in the case of inventory, and to interest incurred in taxable years beginning after August 17, 1988, in all other cases. Finally, under administrative procedures issued by the Commissioner, taxpayers may elect early application of §§1.263A-8 through 1.263A-15 to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 1994, in the case of inventory property, and to interest incurred in taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 1994, in the case of property that is not inventory in the hands of the taxpayer.

(3) Section 1.263A-9(a)(4)(ix) generally applies to interest incurred in taxable years beginning on or after May 20, 2004. In the case of property that is inventory in the hands of the taxpayer, §1.263A-9(a)(4)(ix) applies to taxable years beginning on or after May 20, 2004. Taxpayers may elect to apply §1.263A-9(a)(4)(ix) to interest incurred in taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 1995, or, in the case of property that is inventory in the hands of the taxpayer, to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 1995. A change in a taxpayer's treatment of interest to a method consistent with §1.263A-9(a)(4)(ix) is a change in method of accounting to which sections 446 and 481 apply.

(b) Transitional rule for accumulated production expenditures—(1) In general. Except as provided in paragraph (b)(2) of this section, costs incurred before the effective date of section 263A are included in accumulated production expenditures (within the meaning of §1.263A-11) with respect to noninventory property only to the extent those costs were required to be capitalized under section 263 when incurred and would have been taken into account in determining the amount of interest required to be capitalized under former section 189 (relating to the capitalization of real property interest and taxes) or pursuant to an election that was in effect under section 266 (relating to the election to capitalize certain carrying charges).

(2) Property used to produce designated property. The basis of property acquired prior to 1987 and used to produce designated noninventory property after December 31, 1986, is included in accumulated production expenditures in accordance with §1.263A-11(d) without regard to whether the basis would have been taken into account under former section 189 or section 266.

(c) Anti-abuse rule. The interest capitalization rules contained in §§1.263A-8 through 1.263A-15 must be applied by the taxpayer in a manner that is consistent with and reasonably carries out the purposes of section 263A(f). For example, in applying §1.263A-10, regarding the definition of a unit of property, taxpayers may not divide a single unit of property to avoid property classifying the property as designated property. Similarly, taxpayers may not use loans in lieu of advance payments, tax-exempt parties, loan restructurings at measurement dates, or obligations bearing an unreasonably low rate of interest (even if such rate equals or exceeds the applicable Federal rate under section 1274(d)) to avoid the purposes of section 263A(f). For purposes of this paragraph (c), the presence of back-to-back loans with different rates of interest, and other uses of related parties to facilitate an avoidance of interest capitalization, evidences abuse. In such cases, the District Director may, based upon all the facts and circumstances, determine the amount of interest that must be capitalized in a manner that is consistent with and reasonably carries out the purposes of section 263A(f).

[T.D. 8584, 59 FR 67215, Dec. 29, 1994, as amended by T.D. 8728, 62 FR 42062, Aug. 5, 1997; T.D. 9179, 70 FR 8730, Feb. 23, 2005]