Although large businesses also benefit from Section 179 or Bonus Depreciation, the original target of this legislation was much needed tax relief for small businesses - and millions of small businesses are actually taking action and getting real benefits.
In order for equipment to qualify for a 2021 Section 179 deduction, it also must be purchased and put into service by midnight on 12/31/2021.
Here's How Section 179 Works:
In years past, when your business bought qualifying equipment, it typically wrote it off a little at a time through depreciation. In other words, if your company spends $50,000 on a machine, it gets to write off (say) $10,000 a year for five years (these numbers are only meant to give you an example).
Now, while it's true that this is better than no write-off at all, most business owners would really prefer to write off the entire equipment purchase price for the year they buy it.
And that's exactly what Section 179 does - it allows your business to write off the entire purchase price of qualifying equipment for the current tax year.
This has made a big difference for many companies (and the economy in general.) Businesses have used Section 179 to purchase needed equipment right now, instead of waiting. For most small businesses, the entire cost of qualifying equipment can be written-off on the 2021 tax return (up to $1,050,000).
Here is an updated example of Section 179 at work for the 2021 tax year:
 2021 Deduction Limits: $1,050,000
- This deduction is good for new and used equipment and also off-the-shelf software. To use the deduction toward the 2021 tax year, the equipment is required to be financed or bought and deployed into service between January 1, 2021 and the end of the day on December 31, 2021.
2021 Spending Cap For Equipment Purchases: $2,620,000
- This is the total amount that can be spent on equipment before the Section 179 Deduction offered to your business starts reducing on a dollar for dollar basis. This spending cap helps Section 179 remain a true "small business tax incentive" (since bigger businesses that spend more than $3,670,000 on tools won't receive the deduction.)
2021 Bonus Depreciation: 100%
- Bonus Depreciation is typically taken after the Section 179 Spending Cap is reached. The Bonus Depreciation is available for both new and used equipment. The most important difference is that both new and used equipment now qualify for the Section 179 Deduction (as long as such used equipment is "new to you"), while Bonus Depreciation covers only new equipment until the most recent tax law passed. A change from previous years, the bonus depreciation now includes used equipment.
When applying these provisions, Section 179 is generally taken first, followed by Bonus Depreciation - unless the business had no taxable profit, because the unprofitable business is allowed to carry the loss forward to future years.
Section 179's "More Than 50 Percent Business-Use" Requirement
The equipment, vehicle(s), and/or software must be used for business purposes more than 50% of the time to qualify for the Section 179 Deduction. Simply multiply the cost of the equipment, vehicle(s), and/or software by the percentage of business-use to arrive at the monetary amount eligible for Section 179.
Please visit www.Section179.Org for more information.
