1031 Exchange - IRS Form 8824 & Form 4797

[Stacy Tring]

Hi all, I did a 1031 exchange where I sold two apartments and bought a single family home. No boot or mortgages involved at all, so pretty straightforward.

Form 8824 (Like Kind Exchanges) was pretty simple to understand and easy to complete, and it reflected $0 recognized (taxable) gain, just as I would have expected. But I can't figure out how the info from Form 8824 transfers to Form 4797 (Sales of Business Property) as a deferred  (not yet taxable) gain.

On Form 4797, I do not see any line whatsoever that lets you indicate a gain is DEFERRED (not currently taxable). Every line with the word "gain" ultimately feeds to line 7, where it specifically states: "If line 7 is a gain and you didn’t have any prior year section 1231 losses, or they were recaptured in an earlier year, enter the gain from line 7 as a long-term capital gain on the Schedule D filed with your return." I checked the instructions for Form 4797 or Form 1040 Schedule D, and neither explain how to indicate that the gain is deferred and not taxable right now.

So either: 1) Form 4797 is irrelevant to my exchange and I don't need to file it at all, or 2) I am missing something. 

Can anyone provide me some guidance here? Thanks so much!