Congress voted in December 2015 to make permanent a 100 percent deduction for capital investment, up to $500,000. (It is retroactive through 2015, according to www.Section179.org.) Investments above that level, up to $2 million, are deductible at a lower rate.
Cabinets & Closets Expo 2016 is the first big show with running wood manufacturing machinery and controlling software to take place since Congress made permanent the investment tax incentives known as Section 179.
In addition to the deduction, a 50 percent Bonus Depreciation is also part of the law, and it will be extended through 2019. Businesses of all sizes will be able to depreciate 50 percent of the cost of equipment acquired and put in service during 2015, 2016 and 2017. (In years past, these write-offs were enacted in the waning weeks of the year, too late to plan investments.) The House Ways and Means Committee summarizes the effects here:
Section 124. Extension and modification of increased expensing limitations and treatment of certain real property as section 179 property. The provision permanently extends the small business expensing limitation and phase-out amounts in effect from 2010 to 2014 ($500,000 and $2 million, respectively). These amounts currently are $25,000 and $200,000, respectively. The special rules that allow expensing for computer software and qualified real property (qualified leasehold improvement property, qualified restaurant property, and qualified retail improvement property) also are permanently extended.
The provision modifies the expensing limitation by indexing both the $500,000 and $2 million limits for inflation beginning in 2016 and by treating air conditioning and heating units placed in service in tax years beginning after 2015 as eligible for expensing. The provision further modifies the expensing limitation with respect to qualified real property by eliminating the $250,000 cap beginning in 2016.
There are a number of other tax benefits that were extended to businesses, along with other tax deducations established in the bill, such as research and development. Read a summary PDF from the House Ways & Means Committee.
Business advoacy group Section 179 also provides a calculator (sponsored by Crest Capital) so you can see the impact of the tax extensions on your business's taxes:
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