Time Running Out for Tax Relief

For business owners seeking tax relief, the clock is ticking down.

According to a recent article posted on WSJ’s sister site, SmartMoney.com, a number of business tax breaks will expire at the end of this year.

For example, “The Tax Guy” Bill Bischoff points to the 100 percent first-year bonus depreciation for new assets, which allows owners to deduct the entire cost of equipment, software and other qualifying property in year one. And businesses that deduct enough to carry a tax loss can carry that loss back to 2009 and 2010 in order to recover federal income taxes paid for those years, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Also, there’s the 0 percent tax rate on small-business corporation stock, which was extended after appearing briefly in 2010. Under this tax break, investors may be eligible for 0 percent capital-gains on stock issued in 2011. The maximum tax rate on gains from shares issued after this year and held for more than five years is scheduled to be 14 percent.

Of course, Bischoff notes, Congress could always extend the breaks. But in the meantime, business owners may not want to take their chances and wait.