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March 17, 2020
Question

Commercial Building Roof Section 179

  • March 17, 2020
  • 1 reply
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I have a commercial building I lease out to a corporation. I just recently had a new roof put on it.  My understanding is that since it is a non-residential property, it qualifies under the "Tax cuts and jobs act of 2017" for the section 179 deduction. When imputing this into turbo tax it is not allowing the full deduction for this year. Am I missing something?

1 reply

March 17, 2020

The roof does not qualify for 179 depreciation. 

 

 

Business property purchases that may qualify for Section 179 deductions include:

  • Machinery and equipment
  • Business vehicles with gross vehicle weight over 6,000 lbs
  • Business personal property, which is basically any type of property that isn't attached physically to a building. It's basically everything from office furniture and equipment to computers to free-standing shelves - it's sometimes called "contents."

Since the roof is part of the structure of the building you will need to take depreciation over several years.  

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March 17, 2020

So then, this new roof would not fall under the new law (Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017) that states:

 

The new law also expands the definition of section 179 property to allow the taxpayer to elect to include the following improvements made to nonresidential real property after the date when the property was first placed in service:

  • Qualified improvement property, which means any improvement to a building’s interior. However, improvements do not qualify if they are attributable to:
    • the enlargement of the building,
    • any elevator or escalator or
    • the internal structural framework of the building.
  • Roofs, HVAC, fire protection systems, alarm systems and security systems.

These changes apply to property placed in service in taxable years beginning after Dec. 31, 2017.

 

does my building that we lease out not fall under "nonresidential real property"?