J.K. Lasser's Your Income Tax 2017

Chapter 42 Claiming Depreciation Deductions

1. 42.1 What Property May Be Depreciated?
2. 42.2 Claiming Depreciation on Your Tax Return
3. 42.3 First-Year Expensing Deduction
4. 42.4 MACRS Recovery Periods
5. 42.5 MACRS Rates
6. 42.6 Half-Year Convention for MACRS
7. 42.7 Last Quarter Placements—Mid-Quarter Convention
8. 42.8 150% Rate Election
9. 42.9 Straight-Line Depreciation
10. 42.10 Computers and Other Listed Property
11. 42.11 Assets in Service Before 1987
12. 42.12 MACRS for Real Estate Placed in Service After 1986
13. 42.13 Demolishing a Building
14. 42.14 Qualified Leasehold and Retail Improvements and Restaurant Property
15. 42.15 Depreciating Real Estate Placed in Service After 1980 and Before 1987
16. 42.16 When MACRS Is Not Allowed
17. 42.17 Amortizing Goodwill and Other Intangibles (Section 197)
18. 42.18 Deducting the Cost of Computer Software
19. 42.19 Amortizing Research and Experimentation Costs
20. 42.20 Bonus Depreciation

There are several methods of claiming expense deductions for your purchases in 2016 of equipment, fixtures, autos, and trucks used in your business:

• First-year expensing (Section 179 deduction), which allows a deduction of up to $500,000 (42.3).
• Bonus depreciation, which is another first-year deduction at 50% of cost for eligible property (42.20).
• Regular depreciation, which allows a prorated deduction over a period of years. Most business equipment is depreciable under MACRS (modified accelerated cost recovery system) over a six-year period. MACRS applies to new and used property. The objective of ...