Close Close
Sign In
Newsletters
Popular Financial Topics Discover relevant content from across the suite of ALM legal publications From the Industry More content from ThinkAdvisor and select sponsors Investment Advisor Issue Gallery Read digital editions of Investment Advisor Magazine Tax Facts Get clear, current, and reliable answers to pressing tax questions
Luminaries Awards
Podcast Center Video Center Webcasts Resource Center Events
About ThinkAdvisor Contact Us Advertise With Us Asset & Logo Licensing Sitemap Terms of Service Privacy Policy Copyright © 2024 ALM Global, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
ThinkAdvisor

Financial Planning > Tax Planning

Tax Planning Advice: Using the Section 179 Deduction—Bernard Kiely

By Marlene Y. Satter

X
Your article was successfully shared with the contacts you provided.

This is the 11th in a series of 23 tax tips that AdvisorOne is publishing on each business day in March as part of our Tax Planning Special Report (see our Special Report calendar for a more complete list of topics to be covered and experts who will deliver their insights).

Today’s tip comes from Bernard Kiely of Kiely Capital Management in Morristown, N.J. Mr. Kiely is a CFP and CPA and has been a fee-only financial planner and provider of income tax services for individuals for more than 25 years. He is a long-time member of NAPFA, where he serves as the dean of NAPFA University’s School of Taxation, and holds a BA in Accounting from Upsala College and an MBA from Rutgers University.

The Tip: Use the Section 179 Deduction

For clients who are business owners—and for advisory firm owners themselves—Kiely (left) reminds us to take advantage of the increased Section 179 deduction, under which a taxpayer can treat the cost of certain business property as an expense and deduct that expense in the year during which the property is placed into service rather than depreciating it over several years.

The  2010 Small Business Jobs Act (SBJA) increased the Section 179 limitations and expanded the definition of qualified property for the 2010 and 2011 tax years. The IRS notes that under SBJA, qualifying businesses can now expense up to $500,000 of section 179 property for tax years beginning in 2010 and 2011. Absent SBJA, the section 179 property limit would have been $250,000 for 2010 and $25,000 for 2011, according to the IRS.

If there’s equipment the business needs, Section 179 will allow qualified purchases to be deducted immediately instead of depreciated. Kiely cautions, however, to be sure that whatever is purchased is actually needed, rather than bought just to gain the deduction—otherwise, it saves nothing.

See our Tax Planning Special Report calendar for a list of future topics to be covered.

NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.