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@083 CHAP 9
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ DEPRECIATING ASSETS FOR TAX PURPOSES │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────┘
The Tax Reform Act of 1986 put an end to the highly favorable "ACRS"
(Asset Cost Recovery System) rules that had been enacted in 1981. Since
January 1, 1987, taxpayers have had to learn a whole new, and more
complex system of depreciation. Before then, virtually all assets a
typical small business acquired were written off over 5 years, a few,
like cars, over 3 years, and real estate over 19 years (or 15 or 18
years if acquired before May 9, 1985). You must still use the ACRS
tables on assets placed in service between 1981 and 1986, in general,
however.
Under the new MACRS depreciation system, most assets are assigned to
3-, 5-, 7-, 10-, 15- or 20-year recovery period categories, except for
real estate, which is depreciated over 31.5 years (27.5 years for
residential rental property). Under the MACRS system, all personal
property in the 3-, 5-, 7-, and 10-year categories is depreciated using
the old 200% declining balance method of depreciation from pre-1981
days, and 15- and 20-year property is depreciated under the 150% de-
clining balance method. Real estate may now only be depreciated on a
straight-line basis.
Assets other than real estate are mostly assigned to the various re-
covery periods based on the old Asset Depreciation Range ("ADR") system
"midpoint class lives" that were published by the IRS back in the early
1970s. The "class life" guidelines vary from industry to industry and
are quite numerous and technical. For the most part, you will need to
rely on your tax adviser to tell you what recovery period applies to
various depreciable assets you purchase in your business. However, the
MACRS system does specifically assign some types of assets to recovery
classes, such as autos and light trucks, which are now 5-year property
(they were 3-year property under the former ACRS rules). Most of the
"information-handling equipment" (other than computers) used in an
office, such as calculators, typewriters, etc., are 5-year property,
and computers and peripherals are generally 7-year property.
Generally, under MACRS, a half-year of depreciation can be taken in the
year an asset is first placed in service, regardless of whether it is
put in service on the first day of the tax year or the last day (except
for real estate). However, when more than 40% of such property is put
in service in the last 3 months of the tax year, you are instead re-
quired to use a "mid-quarter" convention, assuming that all the assets
placed in service in each calendar quarter were placed in service at
the midpoint of such quarter. For real property, all real property
that is placed in service in a particular month is assumed to have been
placed in service at the mid-point of that month.
Small businesses are now allowed to expense up to $10,000 a year of
equipment in the year of purchase, rather than depreciating it. This
benefit is phased out dollar for dollar if you acquire more than
$200,000 of eligible property during the tax year. If your business
acquires $210,000 or more of such eligible assets in one year, it won't
be able to elect to expense any of it. Thus a large company, which
acquires a lot of personal property each year, like a General Motors,
is not able to take advantage of this tax break. Eligible property is
generally tangible personal property that would have qualified for the
investment tax credit under prior law. Note that this expensing
election is not allowed if it would create a loss for the taxpayer--it
is only allowable to the extent the taxpayer has taxable income.
@CODE: CA
@CODE:NF
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ CALIFORNIA DEPRECIATION DIFFERENCES │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Over the years since the ACRS depreciation system came into being for
federal tax purposes, one of the most important differences between
federal and California tax law has been with regard to depreciation.
However, in 1987 and 1988, California finally enacted legislation to
allow unincorporated businesses and S corporations to use the new MACRS
depreciation for state income tax purposes. Even so, regular corpor-
ations subject to tax in California are still prohibited from using
either the ACRS or MACRS depreciation systems for state tax purposes
(most regular corporations are subject to the California franchise tax,
rather than income tax, on their income). Regular ("C") corporations
still must use the old pre-1981 methods that were used for both federal
and California purposes before 1981, unless ACRS or MACRS deductions
are considered "a reasonable allowance."