While death is the ultimate tax dodge, Congress recently provided some long term fixes to some rather helpful provisions of the tax code that quite frankly, a lot of businesses are hooked on using like crack cocaine. That of course, is exactly what Congress intended. After all, once they have you hooked, you are more likely to behave as intended.
Section 179 Deduction- The Good Crack
Enhanced “Section 179” deduction, or expense method depreciation is something that most business love. It allows items that would normally be required to be deducted slowly over many years, to be treated like a purchase of a bag feed that is consumed in a short amount of time. Now under I.R.C. § 179, the section allows farmers and businesses to deduct $500,000 of certain business property or equipment during the year in which the property was placed into service. It used to be $25,000. That’s a big jump. Future amounts will be indexed for inflation. True, last year the Congress did the same thing, but this time, it is scheduled to last for a couple of years, which will allow for greater planning and less made dashes to the equipment dealer on 28 DEC.
Farmer can use §179 deduction to purchase machinery and equipment, office equipment, livestock, grain bins, and single purpose agricultural structures such as hog barns or under roof calving barns. The deduction applies to purchases of new or used equipment. To use deduction for the 2015 tax year, the purchase must have been placed in service in 2015 – ready for use .
Other items to induce action on your part.
The new bill also extends several frequently renewed credits for individuals. These include the enhanced child tax credit ($1,000 per qualifying child), the enhanced earned income tax credit, and the enhanced American Opportunity Tax Credit ($2,500 for four years of college expenses). Congress has also made permanent a provision granting teachers a $250 deduction( indexed for inflation) for supplies purchased for their K-12 classrooms. Now you can also elect to claim state and local sales tax instead of state and local income tax as an itemized deduction. Although this provision generally benefits those taxpayers from states without a state or local income tax (We are looking at you Washington State), it can also benefit taxpayers who make a large purchase in a given tax year.
Also charitable giving is getting some love. Tax payers over70.5 years old can make tax free distributions from their IRAs to a qualified charity. Up $100,000 per taxpayer (per spouse for married taxpayers that file as married filing jointly) .
Some things to remember: First, permanent means until Congress decides to mess with the code again. Second, all tax provisions are designed to induce or prevent behaviors. Look again at the provisions discussed above. They might as well be titled “Buy more stuff provision,” “The have more children act”, “the go to school act”, “Teachers please keep buying supplies yourself instead of asking for a raise measure” and “you saved too much so share it with a charity provision.”
