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WRITING OFF ASSETS IN THE FIRST YEAR
Normally, you can’t take a current business deduction for the entire cost of a capital asset in the year you purchase it, because the asset’s usefulness to your business will extend beyond the year in which it was purchased. However, there is an important exception to this rule.
A special tax provision allows small businesses the option of claiming a deduction in the first year for the entire cost of such qualifying business assets, up to $105,000 in 2005 and indexed further for inflation through 2007.
What qualifies for the election?
To qualify for this expensing election, the property that you purchase must be tangible personal property, that you actively use in your business, for which a depreciation deduction would be allowed. The property must be newly purchased property rather than property you previously owned but recently converted to business use. Also, property you acquired by gift or inheritance does not qualify, nor does property you acquired from related person such as your spouse, child, parent, or other ancestor or descendent, or another business with common ownership.
The property must be used more than 50 percent for business. If you want to expense property that will be used partly for personal or family reasons (e.g., a home computer that you use for business about 75 percent of the time), you can expense only the portion of the property’s tax basis that orresponds to its percentage of business use.
WARNING
If, in any year after the year you claimed the expensing election, you either sell the property or stop using it more than 50 percent in your business, you may have to recapture or “give back” part of the tax benefits that you previously claimed.The recaptured amount is equal to the difference between the amount you expensed, and the amount you would have been able to depreciate under the normal rules.
So, if you think you’ll only be using the equipment for a year or two, it may be better to forego the expensing election and avoid the recapture problem.
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