The MACRS depreciation tables replaced ACRS in 1986 with the passing of the tax reform act. Basically this meant an expansion of different asset classes and a half year convention was added to simplify the first and last years of depreciation. Which in laymen’s terms means that it’s more “front loaded” than ACRS and allows for more recovery earlier in the assets life than later. Saving you money.

At this point I’m sure you wondering who to ask about figuring out the numbers behind any assets you’d like to claim. First of all, not all assets are depreciable. A business asset must meet three conditions:

• Be used in a business to produce income, rent, or royalty. (there are exceptions on assets that were expected to yield income but failed to)
• Be something that wears out, decays, or becomes obsolete, or loses value form natural causes
• Have a useful life that is longer than one year and can be measured.

Now the next step would be to figure out your timetable for how much you’ll be recovering year to year. This can be done very easily with an online service such as TurboTax Online.

Further reading on the macrs depreciation tables.