Okay, so you took the big Section 179 deduction.

How do you keep it?

You might wonder, what do we mean by “keep it”?

In tax law, there’s no free lunch. The Section 179 deduction comes with strings attached.

This article explains the strings and how you can avoid recapture. You will learn what happens when you do any of the following:

Allow your business use to drop to 50 percent or less.

Trade or otherwise exchange your Section 179 property.

Sell your Section 179 property.

Give your Section 179 property to a relative or nonrelative.

Snake in the Grass

When you claim your Section 179 deduction, you make a deal with the government to keep your business use above 50 percent during the “designated” depreciation periods.1

If you don’t live up to your agreement, tax law throws out your Section 179 deductions. You then recompute the deductions using depreciation without Section 179. Next, you report the difference on your tax return, where tax law recaptures the excess deductions as taxable income.

The law has two applicable “designated” depreciation periods, one of which will apply to the asset you expensed wholly or partially using Section 179.

For listed property, you avoid recapture if you keep ... Log in to view full article.