Revenue procedure · 1962
Rev. Proc. 62-21
Rev. Proc. 62-21, 1962-2 C.B. 418
IRS revenue procedure
Audio summary
A short audio walkthrough of this rule: what it says and why it matters for your study.
What it holds
Replaced Bulletin F with standardized industry-based asset guideline classes. Each class came with a safe-harbor useful life. Businesses could use that life without proving the specific expected life of each asset.
Why it matters for your study: This is the grandfather of the MACRS class-life table you see today. The lineage runs from Bulletin F to this procedure to Rev. Proc. 72-10 to Rev. Proc. 87-56. It is cited for historical context, not as operative authority.
Where this comes from
Before 1962, the IRS relied on Bulletin F to guide depreciation. Bulletin F gave suggested useful lives for hundreds of types of assets. But it required a facts-and-circumstances analysis for each asset, which led to uncertainty and many disputes.
Revenue Procedure 62-21 replaced Bulletin F. It grouped assets into industry-based guideline classes and gave each class a safe-harbor useful life. If your assets fit a class, you used that life. No individual proof needed. The goal was more certainty and fewer disputes.
What it established
The procedure created the first standardized class-life framework. Instead of negotiating each asset's useful life, a business matched the asset to a guideline class and applied the stated life.
This simplified the process substantially. Businesses got predictability. The IRS got a consistent baseline. The approach was the prototype for everything that followed.
How it connects to a study today
Rev. Proc. 62-21 is not cited in a modern cost segregation study as operative authority. The current table is Rev. Proc. 87-56. But the class-life concept and the industry-based structure that 62-21 started are the direct ancestors of what your study uses today.
The chain runs 62-21, then 72-10 with the ADR range system, then the 1981 ACRS system, then the 1986 MACRS reform, and finally to 87-56 as the current master table.
What it does not mean
This procedure does not provide authority for any current depreciation position. It is superseded. Citing it as authority in a modern study would be incorrect.
Its value is historical. It shows that the class-life system is a decades-long policy commitment, not a recent invention, and that gives context for why the current MACRS structure is the way it is.
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This page explains a tax authority in plain words. It is not tax advice for your situation. The way this authority applies to your property is reviewed by a licensed tax professional. Citation is provided so you or your advisor can read the primary source.