The Internal Revenue Service issued Revenue Procedure 2019-08 today to provide guidance on deducting expenses under Section 179(a). These rules, as amended by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) in December 2017, generally apply to tax years beginning after 2017.

Section 179 allows taxpayers to deduct the cost of certain property as an expense when the property is placed in service. For tax years beginning after 2017, the TCJA increased the maximum Section 179 expense deduction from $500,000 to $1 million. The phase-out limit increased from $2 million to $2.5 million. These amounts are indexed for inflation for tax years beginning after 2018.

The TCJA changed the ADS recovery period of residential rental property. For property placed in service after 2017, the recovery period is 30 years. It was formerly 40 years.

Proposed Revenue Procedure

Purpose:

Section 3 of this revenue procedure provides a safe harbor under which a rental real estate enterprise will be treated as a trade or business for purposes of section 199A of the Internal Revenue Code 1.199A-1 through 1.199A-6 of the Income Tax Regulations (26 CFR Part I). The safe harbor provided by this revenue procedure applies solely for purposes of section 199A. If an enterprise fails to satisfy the requirements of this safe harbor, the rental real estate enterprise may still be treated as a trade or business for purposes of section 199A if the enterprise otherwise meets the definition of trade or business in 1.199A-(b)(14).