If you plan to expand your business, 2011 is a great time to invest in new equipment or building assets and benefit from newly expanded tax incentives. In his state of the union speech, President Obama highlighted the recently passed Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 signed into law December 17, 2010. As he said “Thanks to the tax cuts we passed, Americans’ paychecks are a little bigger today. Every business can write off the full cost of new investments they make this year.”

For businesses with projects that qualify for tax incentives such as cost segregation, the benefits for 2011 will be substantial. A taxpayer must meet specific requirements to utilize this tax deduction. Qualifying property generally includes: depreciable property with a recovery period of 20 years or less; water utility property; computer software; and qualified leasehold improvements. A cost segregation analysis is a method of identifying the maximum amount of qualifying property (property with a recovery period of 20 years or less) and separating those costs from the real property assets associated with a new building or expansion project.

Also, included in the tax relief act is a two-year extension of the 50 percent, first-year additional bonus depreciation allowance which applies to qualifying property acquired by a taxpayer from January 1, 2008 through December 31, 2012, and placed in service before January 1, 2013. The bonus depreciation rate increases from 50 percent to 100 percent in the case of qualifying property acquired after September 8, 2010, but before January 1, 2012, and placed in service before January 1, 2012.

To learn more about a no-cost estimate for a cost segregation analysis, please contact me at Bob.McPherson@sourcecorptax.com.