Deferring capital gain through an IRC §1031 tax deferred exchange is also available for personal property held for investment or for productive use in a trade or business. Personal property refers to all property, both tangible and intangible, that is not considered real property.

The "like-kind" requirement is more challenging for personal property exchanges than it is for real property exchanges. An asset must be either "like-kind" or "like-class". To be of like class the relinquished and replacement depreciable tangible personal property must be in either the same General Asset Class or Product Class. These classifications are listed in the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) manual.