Sales of aircraft and other business machinery and equipment could receive a significant boost after Congress passed a bill that extends a tax provision known as bonus depreciation. The House on Sept. 23 passed the Small Business Jobs Act, which extends bonus depreciation through 2010.
The Senate passed the bill on Sept. 16. The act extends a provision that allowed businesses to accelerate recovery of some capital costs made in 2008 and 2009, compared to ordinary depreciation schedules. Using bonus depreciation, a business can write off 50 percent of the depreciable property’s cost in the year the purchase is made.
On its introduction last June, AOPA President Craig Fuller praised bonus depreciation as potentially “the key that unlocks the dream of aircraft ownership for many of our members.”
The president is expected to sign the bill into law.
