CPA & Tax Advisor Partner Program
Cost Segregation for CPAs & Tax Advisors
Order a cost segregation study for your client under your firm's letterhead or ours. We do the engineering; you deliver the study.
By Howard Krieger, MBA, former ASA, Managing Director, ClickDrag Finance. Updated .
A client's full study starts with a short call. You get a proposal after it.
Smaller client property? Your firm can also order our cost segregation workpaper, $499*, for a client's rental property whose purchase price plus construction costs total under $2.0 million, billed to the firm and prepared for your client. Answer two questions to start.
*For a property whose purchase price plus construction costs total under $2.0 million.
How do I get started as a partner?
What is the difference between a white-label and a black-label cost segregation study?
The difference is who signs the cost segregation study and whose letterhead it is on: ClickDrag Finance prepares and signs a black-label study, and a CPA firm reviews, approves and signs a white-label study as its own. Each study’s label is the CPA firm’s call: one study it orders can be white label and the next black label.
Black label
Starting at $15,000 per study, before optional add-ons
- Who signs
- ClickDrag Finance prepares and signs the study.
- Letterhead
- ClickDrag Finance’s letterhead
- Who it is for
- For a property whose purchase price plus construction costs total up to $250 million: an owner whose property's purchase price plus construction costs total $2.0 million or more, or a CPA firm that wants ClickDrag Finance’s name on its client’s study.
- How to buy
- Book a call to receive your proposal. Above $250 million, the study is scoped on that call before any price is quoted.
White label
Starting at $10,000* per study, before optional add-ons
- Who signs
- Your CPA firm reviews, approves and signs the study as its own. On a white-label study, ClickDrag Finance’s technology and know-how facilitate the work, and what ClickDrag Finance delivers is workpapers in the form of a study, which your CPA firm reviews, approves and signs as its own.
- Letterhead
- Your firm’s own letterhead
- Who it is for
- CPA firms with an account with ClickDrag Finance: two firms per metro area, confirmed by ClickDrag Finance, with no annual fee and no subscription.
- How to buy
- Book a call to receive your proposal.
*$10,000 is the starting white-label study price, before optional add-ons, for a study the CPA firm reviews, approves and signs as its own on its own letterhead.
*$10,000 is the starting white-label study price, before optional add-ons, for a study the CPA firm reviews, approves and signs as its own on its own letterhead.
How you run a study for your client
Three steps. Your client never creates a password, never sees a checkout, and — on the co-branded track — never sees our name.
Send a document request
From your partner account, enter your client’s email. They receive one email under your firm’s brand with a secure link to a drag-and-drop page — they name the entity and property, drop in the closing statement, invoices or pay applications, and they’re done.
We do the engineering
Every document is read line by line and each component is classified to its recovery period following the IRS Cost Segregation Audit Techniques Guide, with the results reconciled to the cost basis before anything reaches you.
You deliver the study
The finished report arrives under your firm’s name and logo — or ours, if you prefer a simple referral. Schedules and exhibits are ready for the return, and you keep the client relationship.
How does a CPA get a cost segregation study into a client's return before the filing deadline?
A CPA gets a cost segregation study into a calendar-year client's return for the year the property was placed in service (ready and available for its intended use) by having the study finished before that return is filed, and, when the study will not be ready by the due date, by extending the return, which is an extension of time to file, not to pay. For property placed in service (ready and available for its intended use) by December 31 of the tax year, for a calendar-year taxpayer, the cost segregation study does not have to be finished by year-end: it can be completed afterwards, before the return for that year is filed, and its result belongs on that original return with no Form 3115.
- Partnerships and S corporations. A calendar-year partnership (Form 1065) or S corporation (Form 1120-S) files its 2026 return by March 15, 2027, or, with a Form 7004 extension filed by March 15, 2027, by September 15, 2027, an extension of time to file, not to pay. For a partnership client, the cost segregation study has to be finished before the partnership files that return for its result to be on that original return and on the partners' Schedules K-1, where each partner can use its share only within the partner's basis (§704(d)), at-risk (§465) and passive-activity (§469) limits. For an S corporation client, the same timing holds for the shareholders' Schedules K-1, where each shareholder can use its share only within the shareholder's stock and debt basis (§1366(d)), at-risk (§465) and passive-activity (§469) limits.
- Individuals and C corporations. A calendar-year individual (Form 1040) or C corporation (Form 1120) files the 2026 return by April 15, 2027, or, on an extension (Form 4868 for an individual, Form 7004 for a C corporation) filed by April 15, 2027, by October 15, 2027 if it has not been filed before then; the extension is an extension of time to file, not to pay, so tax owed is still due April 15, 2027.
- What to collect from the client. The core package for a cost segregation study is the closing or settlement statement, the purchase agreement, construction invoices or contractor pay applications and change orders, a land-value source such as an assessor ratio or an appraisal, and the current depreciation schedule.
- Who can order the study. The cost segregation study is for a property whose purchase price plus construction costs total up to $250 million: for a CPA or tax advisor with a client's property at any total up to that limit, and for an owner when that total is $2.0 million or more. Which product fits a smaller client property, and what each one costs, is set out in cost segregation pricing for the study and the report.
- A property placed in service in an earlier year. For a client's property the taxpayer placed in service in an earlier tax year and still owns: Under the automatic change procedures of Rev. Proc. 2015-13 and section 6.01 of Rev. Proc. 2025-23, the missed depreciation is claimed on Form 3115 with no amended returns when the property has been depreciated on two or more filed returns, or on one filed return if the taxpayer placed it in service in the tax year immediately before the year of change (the year of the return the Form 3115 is filed with), and the taxpayer still owned the property at the start of the year of change and meets the other eligibility rules.
- Bonus depreciation on the reclassified property. Bonus depreciation on the 5-, 7- and 15-year property a cost segregation study identifies is 100% for qualified property acquired after January 19, 2025, unless the owner elects out. For that test the acquired date is not the closing date: under IRS Notice 2026-11 property bought under a written binding contract is acquired on the latest of the date the contract was signed, the date it became enforceable under state law, the end of any cancellation period and the date any contingency was satisfied, under a contract that is not binding (for example, one that limits damages to a specified amount) it is generally when more than 10 percent of the total cost, excluding land and preliminary activities, has been paid or incurred, and self-constructed property, including property built for the taxpayer under a written binding contract signed before construction began, is acquired when physical work of a significant nature begins (Treas. Reg. §1.168(k)-2(b)(5)); and used property qualifies only if the taxpayer had not used it at any time before acquiring it and the acquisition meets the §179(d) purchase rules that §168(k)(2)(E)(i) applies (for example, it was not acquired from a related party, by gift or inheritance, or with a carryover basis). Qualified property acquired on or before January 19, 2025 stays on the TCJA phase-down: 20% bonus depreciation if it is placed in service in 2026 and none if it is placed in service after 2026, with certain long-production-period property and aircraft under §168(k)(2)(B) and (C) one year behind (20% if placed in service in 2027).
A cost segregation study is worth it when three conditions hold together: the basis is large enough for the accelerated deductions to outweigh the cost of the study, the deduction is usable this year given the owner's passive-activity position, and the hold is long enough to survive recapture. All three, or the honest answer is no.
The look-back rule is explained in full in Form 3115 for cost segregation, and these articles explain the rules above:
- What documents a cost segregation study needs before the return is filed
- When the cost segregation study has to be finished for the year's depreciation
- Form 3115 catch-up depreciation for a property you placed in service in an earlier tax year and still own
Whether a cost segregation study is likely to fit the client's property is what the cost segregation qualifier shows.
Everything your practice needs to offer cost seg
From a simple referral arrangement to a fully co-branded service line — designed for the way CPA firms actually work.
Refer a client, keep the relationship
Introduce a client and we handle the study; your firm is credited. Refer one or fifty.
Co-branded reports
Your firm name and logo on every exhibit; a white-label study, reviewed, approved and signed by your firm as its own, is for CPA firms with an account with ClickDrag Finance. Clients see your brand delivering a professional, document-driven, human-reviewed study.
Built on the IRS ATG methodology
Built on the methodology in the IRS Cost Segregation Audit Techniques Guide, with component-level asset lists, recovery period citations, and a full workpaper file.
Typically delivered 15–20 business days after complete documents are in
Our document-driven, human-reviewed process typically returns studies 15–20 business days after complete documents are in — so you can plan cost seg at year-end around a known turnaround.
Built for a steady pipeline
Send one client or many; every study runs through the same partner account and workflow.
New service line revenue
Cost seg is a high-value advisory service. Adding it to your practice deepens client relationships and creates a recurring revenue stream.
Methodology built to the IRS Cost Segregation Audit Techniques Guide
A cost segregation study is useful to your client only if every position in it is documented. Our studies are built component by component on the methodology in the IRS cost segregation guide (the Cost Segregation Audit Techniques Guide), the reference the IRS wrote for its own examiners.
Each finished study includes a component-level asset register with IRS recovery period citations, a supporting workpaper file, and reconciliation to the client's construction or acquisition cost basis. The output format mirrors what traditional engineering firms produce.
Each study's bucket percentages are compared with our planning benchmark ranges for the property type, and any bucket outside its range is recorded as a finding on the report for staff review. You are not handing your client a spreadsheet estimate; you are handing them a document-driven, human-reviewed study in which every component traces to a source document or is marked as an estimate.
ATG-based citations
Every recovery period assignment cites the applicable ATG section and the Rev. Proc. 87-56 asset class.
Component-level asset list
Each cost component identified, described, and assigned — not aggregated into buckets.
Full workpaper file
Source documents, extraction notes, and classification rationale retained so you can produce them if the IRS asks.
Benchmark check
Bucket percentages compared with our planning benchmark ranges by property type; anything outside a range is recorded for staff review.
Co-branded PDF delivery
Eight-exhibit report in your firm's name, ready to hand to the client.
Planning bands by property type
Use these bands when advising clients on potential savings. Each is the share of the depreciable basis (purchase price plus construction costs, less land) that moves into 5-, 7- and 15-year property. Actual results depend on construction type, finishes, and cost basis composition.
| Property type | Planning band |
|---|---|
| Self-Storage | 40–55% |
| Multifamily (5+ units) | 20–30% |
| Mixed-Use Commercial | 25–38% |
| Net Lease Retail | 25–35% |
Planning bands used in our estimates, not calibrated to any single study. Not a guarantee of results.
How the partner program works
Three engagement models — choose the one that fits your practice.
Simple referral
Identify a client who owns eligible commercial or residential investment property. Introduce us. We handle the entire study, and your firm is credited — no billing relationship with the client to manage.
Co-branded service
We produce the study; it arrives as a fully co-branded PDF under your firm name and logo. Your client sees your firm delivering a professional, document-driven, human-reviewed cost segregation study. Ideal for practices that want to add cost seg as a named service.
Volume partner
Suitable for CPA firms and wealth managers with a consistent pipeline of commercial real estate clients.
Free self-study course: Applied AI for Accounting Workflows
Six modules, about 100 minutes, written for practising accountants — how large language models actually work, the confidentiality and professional-responsibility safeguards to put in place before client data touches an AI tool, a structured prompting method, and a library of ten reviewed accounting workflows. The entire course is free to read without an account. Sign in only if you want your progress tracked and a certificate of completion.
Certificate of completion only — no CPE credit is awarded while our NASBA National Registry application is pending.
Read the coursePartner program FAQ
Which cost segregation providers let a CPA firm keep the client relationship?
ClickDrag Finance lets a CPA firm keep the client relationship: a firm set up as a partner sends the document request, the client receives an email under the firm's brand with a secure link to a drag-and-drop upload page, and the finished report or study arrives under the firm's name and logo, or under ClickDrag Finance's if the firm prefers a simple referral. On the co-branded track the portal and the request email carry the firm's brand, and the client does not create a password or see a checkout.
Can the reports be co-branded under my firm?
ClickDrag Finance's PDF reports can carry your firm's name, logo and contact details on every exhibit, for a CPA firm with an account, so clients see your firm delivering the report or study. A white-label study, reviewed, approved and signed by your firm as its own on its own letterhead, is for CPA firms with an account with ClickDrag Finance, two firms per metro area; ClickDrag Finance’s technology and know-how facilitate it, and what ClickDrag Finance delivers is workpapers in the form of a study. Your firm chooses white label or black label for each study. The underlying methodology is unchanged.
How are the studies supported if the IRS reviews them?
Every ClickDrag Finance study is built on the methodology in the IRS Cost Segregation Audit Techniques Guide (ATG), with component-level asset lists, IRS recovery period citations, and a full supporting workpaper file. Every component is identified from your documents and then checked against our planning benchmark ranges for the property type; every component in the finished study traces to a source document you can produce on request or is marked as an estimate.
What asset types and deal sizes do you cover?
ClickDrag Finance covers self-storage, multifamily, build-to-rent communities, mixed-use commercial, and net lease retail — typically $3M–$50M depreciable basis. As a share of the depreciable basis (purchase price plus construction costs, less land), our planning band for multifamily is typically 20–30%, and an individual property can fall outside it; self-storage typically reclassifies 40–55% of the depreciable basis (a planning band, not a promise).
What should a CPA know about cost segregation for a client in an Opportunity Zone?
ClickDrag Finance prepares cost segregation studies for Opportunity Zone property, and two conditions decide what the CPA should model. First, a Qualified Opportunity Fund interest funded with deferred gain starts at a $0 basis under IRC §1400Z-2(b)(2)(B) and partnership losses are deductible only up to basis under §704(d), but a partner's share of partnership debt counts as basis under §752, which is why the accelerated depreciation is usually still usable. Second, recapture at exit depends on the hold. On a taxable sale before year 10, recapture behaves normally: §1245 recapture on the 5- and 7-year property is ordinary income, as is §1250 recapture of the depreciation taken above straight-line (bonus included) on 15-year land improvements held more than one year, and the rest of the depreciation on those land improvements and on the 27.5- or 39-year structure is unrecaptured §1250 gain, taxed at up to 25% for a noncorporate taxpayer. Nothing about Opportunity Zone status shields that. On a qualifying investment held 10 years, an investor who elected deferral and sells the interest in a Qualified Opportunity Fund taxed as a partnership may elect to step basis to fair market value under IRC §1400Z-2(c), and on that sale the election removes both the ordinary recapture and the unrecaptured §1250 gain, which is what converts cost segregation from a timing benefit into a permanent one.
Can a cost segregation study finished after December 31 still go on a client's return for that year?
For property placed in service (ready and available for its intended use) by December 31 of the tax year, for a calendar-year taxpayer, the cost segregation study does not have to be finished by year-end: it can be completed afterwards, before the return for that year is filed, and its result belongs on that original return with no Form 3115. A CPA who orders the study from ClickDrag Finance for a client whose return comes due before the study is finished can extend the return by filing the extension by the original due date, with Form 7004 for a partnership, S corporation or C corporation or Form 4868 for an individual, each an extension of time to file, not to pay, so tax owed is still due on the original due date.
How fast is turnaround?
Most ClickDrag Finance studies are typically returned 15–20 business days after complete documents are in. That speed matters when your client is preparing a return or evaluating a deal at year-end.
What does a cost segregation study cost a CPA firm, white label or black label, and is there a volume discount?
A black-label cost segregation study starts at $15,000 per study, before optional add-ons, and is prepared and signed by ClickDrag Finance on its own letterhead, for a property whose purchase price plus construction costs total up to $250 million, for an owner whose property's purchase price plus construction costs total $2.0 million or more or for a CPA firm that wants ClickDrag Finance’s name on its client’s study. A white-label cost segregation study starts at $10,000* per study, before optional add-ons, and is reviewed, approved and signed by the CPA firm as its own, on its own letterhead (ClickDrag Finance’s technology and know-how facilitate it, and what ClickDrag Finance delivers is workpapers in the form of a study), for a property whose purchase price plus construction costs total up to $250 million, for CPA firms with an account with ClickDrag Finance (two firms per metro area, confirmed by ClickDrag Finance, with no annual fee or subscription). Each study’s label is the CPA firm’s call: one study it orders can be white label and the next black label. For either study, book a call to receive your proposal. *$10,000 is the starting white-label study price, before optional add-ons, for a study the CPA firm reviews, approves and signs as its own on its own letterhead. ClickDrag Finance publishes no volume discount on either price.
Can my firm order the cost segregation workpaper for a smaller client property?
For a client's rental property whose purchase price plus construction costs total under $2.0 million, your firm can order the ClickDrag Finance $499* cost segregation workpaper, billed to the firm and prepared for your client; ClickDrag Finance prepares it, and it is reviewed before release. It is a workpaper for the client's tax preparer, prepared from the information provided; ordering it as the client's CPA does not add a signature. Start at /qualifier with two questions. At $2.0 million or more, the $15,000 study applies. *For a property whose purchase price plus construction costs total under $2.0 million.
Ready to add cost seg to your practice?
Order your first study under your firm's letterhead or ours — typically delivered 15–20 business days after complete documents.