Do the 45-day and 180-day 1031 deadlines include weekends and holidays?

The regulation ends both periods at midnight on the 45th and 180th calendar day, with no weekend exception

Treasury Regulation §1.1031(k)-1(b)(2)(i) says the identification period "begins on the date the taxpayer transfers the relinquished property and ends at midnight on the 45th day thereafter." Paragraph (b)(2)(ii) ends the exchange period "at midnight on the earlier of the 180th day thereafter or the due date (including extensions)" of your return for the year of the sale. Neither paragraph, and nothing in §1031(a)(3), mentions business days, weekends or holidays.

The IRS puts it plainly in Fact Sheet FS-2008-18: the two limits "cannot be extended for any circumstance or hardship except in the case of presidentially declared disasters." A Saturday is a circumstance, so a 45th day that lands on one is still the 45th day.

Qualified intermediaries apply the rule the same way. IPX1031's deadline guidance states the periods cannot be extended "even if the 45th day or 180th day falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday," and Anchor 1031's timeline note is blunter: an exchanger whose day 45 is a Saturday must deliver the notice by midnight that Saturday.

Why the §7503 next-business-day rule does not rescue a Saturday day 45

Section 7503 makes an act timely on the next business day when "the last day prescribed under authority of the internal revenue laws for performing any act" falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday. Readers who file returns on the Monday after an April 15 weekend assume the same courtesy applies to exchange deadlines. It does not, and no qualified intermediary relies on it.

The regulation under that section, §301.7503-1, describes the acts it covers: filing returns, paying tax, filing refund claims and the IRS's own notices and assessments. Identifying replacement property is a notice delivered to the QI or the seller, a private party, and the 45 and 180 days are conditions for like-kind treatment under §1031(a)(3), not acts performed at an IRS office.

There is also a practical reason not to test the theory: the price of being wrong is the entire deferral, because property identified or received late is by statute "not like-kind property." Treat a weekend or holiday day 45 as due the preceding business day and get written confirmation of delivery.

Counting the days: the closing date is day zero, and day 45 ends when that date ends

The transfer date is day zero; the next calendar day is day 1. "Midnight on the 45th day thereafter" means the end of the 45th day, so a property that closed on Sunday March 1, 2026 has an identification deadline of Wednesday April 15, 2026 and an exchange deadline of Friday August 28, 2026.

The same arithmetic produces awkward dates in the fourth quarter, when the deadlines pile into December holidays and the following tax season. Four 2026 closings show the pattern:

• Close Sunday March 1, 2026: identify by Wednesday April 15; close by Friday August 28.
• Close Monday October 12, 2026: identify by Thursday November 26, Thanksgiving Day; day 180 is Saturday April 10, 2027.
• Close Wednesday October 21, 2026: identify by Saturday December 5, not Monday December 7; day 180 is Monday April 19, 2027, but your 2026 return is due April 15, so the period ends April 15 unless you file Form 4868.
• Close Tuesday November 10, 2026: identify by Friday December 25, Christmas Day; day 180 is Sunday May 9, 2027, reachable only with a filing extension.

Check the count with a calculator, then have the intermediary confirm the transfer date in writing

A days calculator such as IPX1031's will add 45 and 180 to any date, but it cannot tell you which date to enter. The transfer date is the day benefits and burdens of ownership passed, usually the escrow funding and deed delivery date, and it can differ from the recording date.

Ask the QI to state both deadlines in the exchange agreement or a confirmation letter. If two properties sold on different dates in one exchange, both periods run from the earliest closing, which is a common source of miscounting.

Your CPA or attorney should confirm the count against the closing statement before you rely on any date here, especially where funding and recording straddled a weekend.

Federally declared disaster relief is the only thing that moves either date

Section 17 of Rev. Proc. 2018-58 postpones a 45-day or 180-day deadline that falls on or after the date of a federally declared disaster by 120 days, or to the end of the general relief period in the IRS news release for that disaster, whichever is later, and only when the release invokes the procedure. Your sale must have closed on or before the disaster date, and the postponement can never run past your return due date with extensions or past one year.

Eligibility, the qualifying reasons and worked arithmetic are on Can I get an extension on my 45-day or 180-day deadline?. Nothing else qualifies: not a lender, not illness, not a title defect, not a holiday closure at the county recorder.

The tax-return cut-off works in the other direction, shortening rather than lengthening the period; a filing extension removes it for sales closing after October 17, 2026.

What to do when your day 45 or day 180 lands on a weekend or holiday

Plan around the last business day before the deadline, not the deadline itself.

• Deliver the identification on the last business day before the deadline, signed and dated, to the QI by the method your exchange agreement names, and keep the delivery receipt or email timestamp.
• Do not rely on hand delivery to an office that is closed; most exchange agreements accept fax or email, and a written acknowledgement from the QI is the record you want.
• For day 180, title companies and county recorders are closed on weekends and federal holidays, so a replacement scheduled to close on a Saturday day 180 effectively must fund on Friday.
• If the deadline falls in the last two weeks of December, book the closing before the holiday week; escrow officers, lenders and recorders run short-staffed.
• Put a DST on the identification list as a backup if you have any doubt about the primary property closing; a backup identified by day 45 can be closed near the end of the period.