Purchased New Or Used Equipment? Know The Section 179 Tax Deduction.
If you’ve purchased, financed or leased equipment for your business recently, it pays to get familiar with a tax deduction you don’t want to overlook. It’s called the Section 179 Deduction and it allows a business owner to potentially deduct the full purchase price of the equipment. To qualify, you need to have purchased and used the equipment after January 1st of the tax year you’re claiming.
What are examples of equipment that qualify?
Here’s the good news: If you pass the calendar year test above, there are a number of items that you can possibly deduct, including:
- Equipment purchased for business use
- Computers
- “Off-the-Shelf” computer software
- Office equipment
- Office furniture
- Air conditioning and heating units (placed into service this year)
Even your business vehicle might qualify!
That’s right. If you use your car, truck or van for business more than 50% of the time and the vehicle has a gross weight of above 6,000 lbs., you may qualify for expensing it up to $25,000. Remember to keep the business and personal lines firmly on the “business” side – you’ll be unlikely to be able to claim a deduction here if the vehicle was ever used in the past first and foremost for personal trips and is now primarily your business vehicle. If you just purchased the vehicle, it’s OK if you use it occasionally for personal reasons, but the more you use it for business, the better.
Starting this year, you can expense even more.
Thanks to a new bill signed by Congress in mid-December, businesses can deduct up to $500,000 on qualified purchases, including the ones under the Section 179 deduction mentioned here. So if your purchases qualify, you may be in for more tax relief than you thought.
Use it or lose it!
If you’re going to write it off, you can’t wait until next year because any deductions you take on that equipment will expire on December 31st. So why not aim to write off the equipment you already bought and are using today?
Talk to a seasoned tax professional about your options for taking the Section 179 tax deduction by listing all of the possible equipment that may qualify. Any extra help from Uncle Sam to benefit your bottom line is always a good thing.