Tax Relief Act Good for Business Aviation

On December 17, President Obama signed the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance ­Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010. The Act includes “100-percent expensing” of investments in capital assets, such as business aircraft, purchased between Sept. 8, 2010, and Dec. 31, 2011. Another provision extends the current 50-percent bonus depreciation to the end of 2012.  The White House hopes the expensing provision will result in $50 billion in new investments, which will thus help fuel job ­creation. However, “this ­expensing would be more like the current bonus depreciation,” according to NBAA v-p Mike Nichols, and therefore does not apply to used aircraft. Both NBAA and GAMA expressed their support of the bipartisan tax agreement.