Business Tax

Business tax pages focus on tax vocabulary that becomes important once income is tied to business activity rather than only wages. The goal is to explain the tax concept itself, not to become a full business operations encyclopedia.

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• Depreciation
• Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System
• Listed Property
• Section 179 Deduction
• Bonus Depreciation
• Pass-Through Entity

What This Section Covers

• Common business-only tax concepts that change deductions or reporting.
• How timing, basis, and expense treatment can affect the current-year return.
• The tax vocabulary small-business owners often encounter early.
• Why vehicles and other mixed-use business property often require stricter records and form support.
• How ordinary MACRS depreciation differs from special acceleration rules such as Section 179 and bonus depreciation.

Best Reading Paths

• Start with Depreciation, then Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System, if the main question is how business property is usually recovered over time.
• Move from Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System to Section 179 Deduction and Bonus Depreciation if the question is which rules speed up cost recovery.
• Continue from Depreciation to Listed Property, then Form 4562, if the issue involves vehicle or mixed-use property reporting.
• Continue from Depreciation to Depreciation Recapture, then Form 4797, if the main question is what happens when depreciated property is later sold.

Related Sections

• Entity Taxation
• Tax Forms and Filing
• Capital Gains and Basis

In this section

• Bonus Depreciation
  Bonus depreciation is a business tax concept that can allow faster cost recovery for qualifying property than ordinary depreciation alone.
• Depreciation
  Depreciation is the tax concept that spreads the cost of certain business property over time instead of treating the full cost as an immediate current expense.
• Listed Property
  Listed property is certain mixed-use business or investment property, especially vehicles, that faces stricter substantiation and depreciation rules.
• Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System
  The Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System is the main federal depreciation system for most business property placed in service after 1986.
• Section 179 Deduction
  The Section 179 deduction is a business tax deduction concept that can allow certain property costs to be deducted more quickly instead of recovered only over time.