Tax Talk Today - The Sooner, The Better? Recovering Asset Costs Through Depreciation, Amortization, and/or Expensing

Program Content

This online learning program, presented as a live webcast, will be also archived for QAS Self Study. The program will be available for viewing for 12 months after the live webcast. A panel of IRS and industry experts will present the content during a live, interactive discussion, where participant questions can be submitted. Questions will be answered live on the program or posted on the Resources page.

The program, through a lively round-table discussion and real time interaction with the audience, examines allowances provided by federal tax law for depreciation and amortization. The program will focus on the cost or other basis used for the depreciation of capital or income-producing assets, and the recovery of those costs under the MACRS of depreciation. Panelists also will examine the limited election to expense, rather than capitalize the cost of certain assets. Further, the panel will examine special amortization provisions, including start-up costs, section 197 intangibles, and others.

By the end of the program, participants will have a practical understanding, through accurate, current, and effectively designed communications, of the costs of assets that must be capitalized, how those costs are recovered through depreciation or amortization, and when those deductions may become subject to recapture.

Program Learning Objectives

Identify the form that can only be filed on an amended return for the year the asset is sold - that is an exception to the timely filed return rule.
Identify under which section listed property is limited to properties of transportation, properties of entertainment, or other property specified by regulations.
Identify the IRS term that typically refers to the price paid to acquire an asset.
Identify the maximum amount of per-square-foot deduction for an entire energy efficient building under (IRC 179D).

Program Outline

Depreciation
- Property Subject to Depreciation
- Basis for Depreciation
- Capital Cost vs. Deductible Expense
- Uniform Capitalization Rules
- IRS "Repair" Regulations
Expense Election under Section 179
- Eligible Property
- Dollar Limitation
- Investment Limitation
- Taxable Income Limitation
- Qualified Real Property
Energy Efficient Commercial Buildings
- Deduction Limitations
- Qualifying Improvements
MACRS
- Recovery Periods and Methods
- Conventions
- Limitations on Autos, Trucks, SUVs, and Vans
- Listed Property
- Leased Property
- Bonus Depreciation
- Depreciation Recapture
Amortization Allowances
- Start-up and Organizational Costs
- Section 197 Intangibles
- Safe-Harbor for Self-Created Intangibles
- Architectural and Transportation Barriers
- R&D Rules
- Other Amortization Provisions

Panelists

Moderator

Alan Pinck, EA
A. Pinck & Associates

Alan Pinck is an Enrolled Agent with over 30 years of tax preparation experience in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has built a practice specializing in individual, small business tax preparation and audit representation. You have seen Alan presenting at NTPI events, CSEA Super Seminar, Spidell Publishing as well as a variety of other presentations for tax groups and small business associations. Having represented thousands of tax returns in audit, Alan has obtained tremendous insight of the audit process as well as knowledge on a wide variety of tax issues.

IRS Panelists

Sherman Burger
Senior Program Analyst, SB/SE Headquarters, Exam, Internal Revenue Service

Sherman Burger, CPA graduated from Idaho State University with a BBA in Accounting. Mr. Burger has over 40 years of experience working with Income Taxes, starting with the preparation of 1981 Federal Income Tax returns for a National CPA firm. This experience includes almost 20 years of audit level experience with the Idaho State Tax Commission and over 16 years of experience as an Internal Revenue Agent with the IRS.

As an Internal Revenue Agent Mr. Burger audited the income tax returns of Small Business and Self-Employed taxpayers. These audits included Individual Income Tax Returns, C-Corporation and S-Corporation Tax Returns, Partnership Tax Returns, and Offshore Voluntary Disclosure filings from individuals. He currently works in Headquarters Exam as a Senior Program Analyst providing technical advice to examiners and performing technical reviews of training in the areas of Deprecation, Tangible Property Regulations, Partial Dispositions, and Changes in Accounting Methods.

Mr. Burger is a member of the Instructor Cadre for IRS training courses and has taught the Pass-Through Entity training given to newly hired agents several times over the past 12 years. He was also a member of the Adjunct Faculty at Boise State University teaching sophomore accounting and junior level income tax classes from 1995 through 1999.

Industry Panelists

Brian Coddington, EA
Director of Tax Accounting Methods & Credits, Source Advisors

Mr. Coddington began his career at Source Advisors where he oversaw all tax technical research and provided technical support services, including audit representation, to all tax offerings. He then worked at a Big 4 firm in a national projects group that specialized in Federal inventory tax matters. In 2011 he became sole practitioner advising in the areas of tax accounting methods, research credit, and fixed asset issues. He is a frequent CPE presenter. He rejoined Source Advisors in 2021. Mr. Coddington is an Enrolled Agent, is a mediator in the state of Texas, and has pursued additional studies at Texas Wesleyan University School of Law.

John M. Perry III, EA, USTCP

John Perry has been an Enrolled Agent and tax professional since 2012. His tax preparation background includes work with individuals, small businesses, and trusts. He is an NTPI Fellow and represents clients before the IRS primarily in collections, and before the Oklahoma Tax Commission. In addition, he was admitted to the bar of the United States Tax Court by examination in 2013, and he represents individual and small business clients before the U.S. Tax Court. John lives and works in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. During tax season, he has volunteered as a VITA tax preparer and reviewer on Saturdays and one night a week for the past six years. He has served the National Association of Enrolled Agents as a member of, and now chair of, the Tax Education Subcommittee, and is a member of the Bylaws and Governance Committee. He has served as an education committee member and chair, chapter president, a director, and secretary of the Oklahoma Society of Enrolled Agents, and is currently vice-president of the OSEA.

Content Consultant

David F. Windish, J.D., LL.M
Content Consultant

David F. Windish, J.D., LL.M. in taxation, is a tax attorney and consultant. He has served as an instructor of tax-advantaged investments at the New York Institute of Finance; an Instructor of business law at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, N.Y.; and an adjunct professor at George Mason University, Fairfax, Va. He has also served as executive editor for Tax Analysts; managing editor for Business Strategies, published by CCH; and senior editor for the Institute for Business Planning.

Mr. Windish is the author of Practical Guide to Real Estate Taxation, published by CCH and currently going into its sixth edition. Earlier works include Tax Advantaged Investments and Investor's Guide to Limited Partnerships, both published by the New York Institute of Finance. Through the Center for Video Education, he authored continuing education courses dealing with real estate and closely held corporations. Those courses included readings, case studies, and videotape segments.

Mr. Windish is a graduate of Rutgers University Law School and the New York University School of Law, Graduate Division. He has been heard as a guest speaker at professional meetings and seminars and on popular radio programs.

The Sooner, The Better? Recovering Asset Costs Through Depreciation, Amortization, and/or Expensing

Continuing Education