Section 179 and Bonus Depreciation for Iowans

Following up on my last post about Section 179 expensing and bonus depreciation:  one other aspect of tax planning for asset purchases is to examine what your state's rules are.  Some states, such as Iowa, do not follow federal guidelines for either Section 179 or bonus depreciation.

For example, in Iowa, Section 179 expensing is capped at $134,000, and bonus depreciation is not honored at all.  If your federal Section 179 expense exceeds $134,000, you'll only be able to deduct $134,000 as Section 179 expensing on your Iowa return; the rest will have to be depreciated.  This means an Iowan  could easily have to track two sets of basis and two sets of depreciation schedules - one for the IRS and one for Iowa.

Iowa isn't the only state that does this.  For example, I prepared an Ohio tax return last year, and they have a strange "5/6" rule on bonus depreciation and Section 179 expensing.  The rule gets its name because you have to add back 5/6 of the bonus depreciation amount as income on your Ohio tax return.  And for Section 179 expensing, you have to compare the amount of Section 179 expensing in the current year with the amount that would have been allowable if it was still 2002 (when the 179 limit was $25,000).  Basically, you add back to income 5/6 of the dollar amount of Section 179 expensing in excess of $25,000.

Preparing this Ohio return opened my eyes to the fact that Iowa, while it rightfully ranks very poorly in tax friendliness, is not the only state with mystifying tax rules.