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Raise the small business investment expensing limit to $250,000 through the end of 2009

Barack Obama

Will provide "temporary business tax incentives through 2009. The February 2008 stimulus bill increased maximum Section 179 expenses to $250,000 but this expires in December 2008. This provision will encourage all firms to pursue investment in the coming months, but will particularly benefit small firms which generally have smaller amounts of annual property purchases and so choose to expense the cost of their acquired property."

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Angie Drobnic Holan
By Angie Drobnic Holan September 16, 2009

Stimulus raised the expensing limit


During the campaign, Barack Obama promised to extend a tax break for small businesses to give them a boost during the recession. The tax change raised the expensing limit — the amount that small companies can claim as their business expenses for investments.

A sharp-eyed reader brought to our attention a tiny provision in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the economic stimulus package, that did exactly that. Section 1202 of the stimulus legislation raised the limit to $250,000. A May 2009 memo from the Internal Revenue Service confirms the change.

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