Primary-source hierarchy
Every page is built against a defined primary-source hierarchy. When a substantive claim is made on the site, the source is identified at the lowest level of the hierarchy that supports the claim:
- Statute — the Internal Revenue Code at the section level (e.g., IRC §168(k)(6))
- Treasury Regulations — final regs at Title 26 CFR (e.g., Treas. Reg. §1.168(k)-2)
- Revenue Procedures and Revenue Rulings — formal IRS guidance with precedential weight (e.g., Rev. Proc. 2015-13)
- Notices and Announcements — IRS guidance documents with operational effect (e.g., Notice 2025-17)
- IRS Publications — taxpayer-facing publications (e.g., Pub. 946, Pub. 5653) — useful but not authoritative; courts have held that publications cannot bind the IRS or the taxpayer beyond the underlying statute
- Chief Counsel Advice — informal advice, not precedential but indicative of IRS position
- Tax Court and federal-court decisions — interpretations of the statute by courts of record
Where multiple authorities address the same point, the highest applicable level controls. A regulation that conflicts with a statute is invalid; an IRS notice that conflicts with a regulation is questionable; a publication that conflicts with a notice is non-controlling.
Quote and translate
When the site presents the substance of a statutory provision, regulation, or IRS guidance, the primary-source text is quoted verbatim in a bordered callout, followed by a plain-English translation. The reader sees the controlling language and the editorial interpretation side-by-side.
Direct quotations are limited to the minimum necessary to establish the rule. Where a quotation exceeds 75 words, the page links to the primary source rather than reproducing the text. The full statutory and regulatory texts are publicly available via Cornell LII, irs.gov, and govinfo.gov.
Credentialed review
Every page is reviewed by a credentialed tax professional before publication. The reviewer:
- Holds an active CPA license, EA enrollment, or JD-Tax credential
- Reviews the page for technical accuracy against the cited primary sources
- Signs off on the page substance, dated at the time of review
- Is named on the page itself — the page header shows the reviewer name and credential
Reviewers are not authors. They review work prepared by the editorial team for technical accuracy. The reviewer's name on the page indicates the page has been technically checked by that named individual against the current state of the law.
Dating and re-review cadence
Every page shows three dates:
- Published: original publication date of the page
- Last reviewed: most recent reviewer sign-off date
- Next sweep: scheduled next re-review date — quarterly cadence by default
Major changes to the law (new statute, new regulation, new revenue procedure, new judicial decision) trigger out-of-cycle re-reviews. When OBBBA was signed in January 2025, every page that touched bonus depreciation was re-reviewed within 30 days of enactment. The change record is in the /changelog/.
Errata protocol
The site does not assert that any page is error-free. The standard is that substantive errors — errors that would mislead a CPA relying on the page to advise a client — are corrected within seven calendar days of being reported and verified. The protocol:
- Reader reports an error to errata@irsdepreciationrules.com with the URL, the specific text, and the basis for believing it is incorrect.
- The editorial team reviews the report against the cited primary source. If the report is verified, the page is corrected and the change is logged in the changelog with the reporter's initials (or "anonymous" if requested).
- If the report is not verified (the page is correct as written), the reporter is sent an explanation citing the controlling authority.
The protocol is the same regardless of whether the error is procedural (a wrong date), interpretive (a misreading of statute), or stylistic (an unclear sentence). The seven-day window is the commitment.
What this site is not
- Not legal advice. The site is an editorial reference. It does not constitute legal, tax, or financial advice. A taxpayer relying on a page in connection with a return should verify the underlying primary source and consult a professional.
- Not a calculator. The site does not provide computational tools that determine tax liability. Calculators exist on other sites (referenced sparingly in editorial citations) — this site is the reference, not the calculator.
- Not a marketing channel. The site does not sell anything. It is operated as a service to the practitioner community. The relationship with Cost Seg Smart LLC is disclosed in the footer of every page; conversion mechanics are limited to occasional editorial citations to relevant operational tools.
Disclosure of operating relationship
IRS Depreciation Rules is operated by Cost Seg Smart LLC, an American cost segregation provider. The operating company funds the editorial team and provides the engineering team that contributes to worked-example sections.
On a small number of pages — those that touch operational application of a rule (cost segregation studies, Form 3115 filings, REPS analysis) — the page may include at most one inline editorial citation to a Cost Seg Smart-network property where a worked example, calculator, or decision tool genuinely helps the visitor's next step.
The citations are:
- Editorial in style — short, link-only, no promotional copy or callout boxes
- Limited to one per page maximum
- Reviewed under the same editorial standard as the rest of the page
- UTM-tagged (
utm_source=irsdepreciationrules) for attribution but not for promotion
The footer of every page discloses the operating relationship: "Editorial. Not legal, tax, or financial advice. Operated by Cost Seg Smart LLC, an automated cost segregation provider."