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Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Hey Business Owners! Your next vehicle purchase may be tax deductible:

Source:  smSmallBiz.com - SmartMoney's Small Business website.  Click Here to go to the original article


Tax-Deductible Business Vehicles

January 18, 2005
Updated on February 3, 2010.
HEY SMALL-BUSINESS OWNERS: How'd you like to use pretax dollars to buy an SUV or pickup?
Many small businesses can instantly deduct up to $250,000 worth of new and preowned equipment in the year it's first placed in service. The name of this generous break is the Section 179 depreciation deduction, and it can reduce both your federal income tax and self-employment tax bills. (You may get a state-tax deduction too.) Without it, you'd have to depreciate most business equipment gradually over five to seven years.
New and preowned "heavy" SUVs, pickups, and vans used more than 50% for business purposes are eligible for the Section 179 write-off (as is, for that matter, most other small-business equipment, such as computers (plus software) and home-office furniture or software).

Reduced Writeoff for Heavy SUVs

Congress imposed a reduced $25,000 limit on Section 179 deductions for heavy SUVs. Not to worry! The idea of buying a heavy SUV still works quite well. Why? Because the tax law allows you to claim the $25,000 Section 179 writeoff plus the "regular" first-year depreciation writeoff. For example, say you spend $60,000 in 2010 to buy a new Cadillac Escalade that is used 100% in your business. You can generally claim at least the following first-year deductions on your business's 2010 federal return: the $25,000 Section 179 writeoff plus $7,000 worth of regular depreciation [20% x ($60,000 - $25,000)]. So your first-year depreciation deductions add up to $32,000, or about 53% of the new Escalade's cost. This is a far better deal than if you spent the same $60,000 on a new BMW used 100% for business (in that case, your first-year depreciation writeoff would be limited to about $3,000 under the so-called luxury auto depreciation limitations).

Heavy Non-SUVs Still Generate Oversized Tax Savings

The full Section 179 deduction ($250,000 for tax years beginning in 2009; probably the same for 2010) is still available for heavy business vehicles that are not considered to be SUVs under the tax law. Both new and used vehicles can qualify for this important exception. Non-SUVs include:
  • Vehicles with a cargo area of at least six feet in interior length that's not easily accessible directly from the passenger compartment. For example, many pickups with full-sized beds will fit this description. Beware: some "quad cab" and "extended cab" pickups may have cargo beds that are too short to qualify.
  • Vehicles designed to seat more than nine passengers behind the driver's seat. For example, many hotel shuttle vans will fit this description.
  • Vehicles with: (1) a fully enclosed driver's compartment and cargo area, (2) no seating behind the driver's seat, and (3) no body section protruding more than 30 inches ahead of the leading edge of the windshield. This sounds weird, but many delivery vans will meet this description.
Bottom Line: Heavy vehicles that fall under these three exceptions remain eligible for the full Section 179 writeoff ($250,000 for tax years beginning in 2009). That means you can probably deduct the full business portion of your heavy non-SUV's cost in Year One. Sweet!
The catch? Only that your newly acquired vehicle must be used more than 50% of the time for business purposes. But as I'll explain below, setting up a business office in your home can give you a big leg up in meeting this requirement. Before we get to that key point, however, here's a little more background so you'll understand how the Section 179 break works in this context.

First, Pick Out a Suitably Heavy Machine

The Section 179 deduction is available only when your SUV, pickup or van has a manufacturer's gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) above 6,000 pounds. (First-year depreciation deductions for lighter vehicles are subject to much skimpier limits.) Fortunately, it's very easy to find attractive vehicles with GVWRs above the magic 6,000-pound figure. Most machines that look big enough to qualify do qualify. Examples include the Chevy Tahoe and Dodge Ram pickups. You can verify a vehicle's GVWR by checking the label on the inside edge of the driver's door.

Then, Buy It (Don't Lease It)

Here's another very important point: Leasing a heavy SUV, pickup or van will disqualify you from claiming the generous first-year Section 179 deduction. Instead, you'd only be able to deduct your lease payments as you make them. For this reason, you should generally buy rather than lease heavy SUVs, pickups and vans that will be used over 50% for business. The fact that you may finance some or all of the vehicle's purchase price won't affect your Section 179 deduction in the least.

Next, Play the Home-Office Angle

As mentioned above, the lucrative Section 179 write-off is available only when you use your heavy SUV, pickup or van over 50% for business. Your business-use percentage is based on your business and personal mileage.
Unfortunately, this over-50% business-use test can be difficult to pass. You're much more likely to clear the hurdle if you can also claim a principal place of your business is an office located in your home. Why? Because then all the commuting mileage from your home office to various temporary work locations (client sites, etc.) will be considered business mileage. Ditto for commuting mileage between your home office and any other regular place of business — such as another office you keep in the city. (Frustratingly, if you only have an office outside your home, your drives between home and office won't count as business mileage.) You can also treat all the mileage between your other regular place of business (that office in the city) and your various temporary work locations (client sites, etc.) as additional business mileage. Source: IRS Revenue Ruling 99-7.
More business mileage also means a bigger first-year Section 179 deduction. For example, a $60,000 heavy non-SUV used 100% business means a $60,000 first-year write-off (100% x $60,000 = $60,000). In contrast, 70% business use cuts your deduction down to $42,000 (70% x $60,000 = $42,000).
Last but not least, your home-office deduction counts as a business write-off as well. As such, it reduces your federal income-tax and self-employment-tax bills. And as if that's not enough, you'll probably also get a state-income-tax write-off.
All that — plus the option of showing up for work in your pajamas. You just can't beat it.

Making Your Home Office a Principal Place of Business

So how do you make your home office a principal place of business if you haven't done so already? The tax law gives the self-employed types (sole proprietor, partner or LLC member) two ways to qualify:
1st Way: You conduct most of your income-earning activities in the home office.
2nd Way: You conduct your administrative and management functions in the home office. However, to take advantage of this taxpayer-friendly qualification rule, you can't make substantial use of any other fixed location (like that other office downtown) for your administrative and management chores.
For either qualification rule you must use your home-office space regularly and exclusivelyfor business purposes during the year in question. Regularly means often and continuously, as opposed to occasionally. Exclusively means no personal use at any time during the year. (Granted, if you occasionally use the TV in your home office to catch the scores of your favorite sports team, the IRS is obviously never going to be the wiser — but you do need to take these rules seriously.)
So if you don't already have a home office dedicated to your small business, you may have to wait until next year to set one up and buy your heavy SUV, pickup or van. No problem. That gives you plenty of time to shop around for just the right vehicle.
Beware of the Taxable Income Limitation 

A taxpayer's annual Section 179 deduction can't exceed that year's aggregate net business taxable income from all sources (calculated before the Section 179 writeoff). With the current huge Section 179 allowance ($250,000 for tax years beginning in 2009; probably the same for 2010), this rule will now affect many more taxpayers than ever before. 

The good news: When you conduct your business as a sole proprietorship — or as a single-member LLC treated as such for federal tax purposes — you're allowed to count any salary, wages, and tips that you may earn as an employee as additional net business taxable income. If you're married and file jointly, you can also count your spouse's earnings from outside employment as well as any net self-employment income from business activities in which he or she actively participates. These taxpayer-friendly loopholes greatly reduce the odds that you'll be adversely affected by the net business income limitation. 

If, however, you run your shop as a partnership, multimember LLC, or S corporation, please consult your tax pro about how to take full advantage of the expanded Section 179 write-off. Why? Because the Section 179 deduction maximum and the net business income limitation apply at both the entity level and at your personal level. This means some careful planning may be required in order for you to collect the expected tax savings from your heavy SUV, pickup, or van.
Stricter Rules Apply To Corporate-Owned Vehicles 

When the heavy SUV, pickup, or van is owned by your C or S corporation, it must be used over 50% for actual corporate business activities (based on mileage) to qualify for the Section 179 writeoff. Unfortunately, personal use by an employee who is also a more-than-5% shareholder (this means you) doesn't count as corporate business use for this purpose, even though the personal-use value is properly reported as additional taxable compensation on your Form W-2. The same restriction holds true for other corporate employees who are related to a more-than-5% shareholder. When the over-50% business-use test is failed, your corporation must depreciate the vehicle using the straight-line method, which means it will take six tax years to fully depreciate the darned thing. That takes a lot of the air out of this idea. The corporate-owned vehicle situation also creates another complication: a shareholder-employee (like you) can have a principal-place-of-business office in the home only when the arrangement is for the convenience of the employer (your corporation). For these reasons, the heavy SUV/home office combo doesn't work as easily in the corporate scenario. But don't give up hope. Consult your tax pro about this scheme.
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