Archive for August, 2009

New Rules of Depreciation for Qualified Retail Property (2009-8-19)

As is the case with Qualified Leasehold Property and Qualified Restaurant Property, a newly allowable 15 year recovery period will be usable when depreciating Qualified Retail Property.  This is the first time this will be so, but can only occur if the given parameters are met.
1)  Effective Date of 1/1/2009
2)   Not Elective, if the qualifications [...]

Additions or Improvement to Qualified Restaurant Property (2009-8-18)

One of the hardest hit industries as a result of the current recession has been the restaurant industry.  Thus, it has been exceedingly difficult for many restaurants to maintain day-to-day operations, much less for them to make additions or improvements to their existing property.  However, congress has provided some incentive to do so anyway, with [...]

Improvements or Additions to Leasehold Property: (2009-8-13)

One of the emerging hot topics in tax depreciation is Leasehold Improvement Depreciation.  Lately, there seem to be many questions revolving around what qualifications there are for depreciating leasehold improvements and what guidelines must be followed when doing so.  This probably stems from the recent rules and allowances created through the initial law (Job Creation [...]

How to Use Property Class Life Tables (2009-8-5)

In 1986, assets of different classes were given associated class lives.  These class lives are formatted into tables that are viewable on the IRS website under Publication 946.  Using these class life tables can be confusing to many.  Such confusion may occur because the tables are lengthy, some assets have no class life with assigned [...]

Determining Depreciation Recovery Periods (2009-8-5)

Determining the correct monthly depreciation amounts for an asset requires the correct usage of recovery periods.  Under MARCS, assets are assigned to a property class such as 3 year, 5 year, 7 year, nonresidential real property, etc.  Associated with each property class is a recovery period in 12 month intervals (years).
The first actual recovery period [...]