Cars and Other Listed Property

Certain types of business property are called "listed property" and are subject to special depreciation restrictions.

Listed property includes:

cars and other vehicles, but not those over 14,000 pounds, or those that are unlikely to be used for personal purposes because of their design, such as construction vehicles, moving vans, etc.

equipment that's normally used for entertainment or recreation, such as photographic, audio, communication, and video recording equipment.

computers and peripherals unless they are used at a regular business establishment, including an office that qualifies for the home office deduction, and are owned or leased by the business operator

Tip

The IRS has issued new depreciation regulations that generally apply to tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2014. But, for 2012 and 2013, it also provided taxpayers with the ability to elect certain regulations. The best choice for each taxpayer depends on the taxpayer's unique situation. Consult your advisor to determine which approach would be best for you and your business.

Generally, your business usage of listed property must exceed 50 percent in order for you to take the special expensing election or to depreciate the property under MACRS. Otherwise, you must use straight-line depreciation under the ADS method, using the appropriate ADS class lives for the items.

Warning

Commuting to work is never considered "business use" of the car, even if you do work while driving such as calling customers or dictating letters.

If your employees use your car, you can count as "business use" any mileage they drive for business purposes, plus other mileage if the value of the car's use is treated as compensation to the employees.

If your business use of listed property drops below 51 percent in any year after the first year you use the property in your business, but before the property's depreciation period has expired, you may have to pay back some of the excess depreciation you claimed.

Specifically, you'll have to treat the difference between the ADS depreciation and the depreciation you actually claimed (including any amount you expensed in the first year) as ordinary income in the first year you no longer use the asset more than 50 percent for business.

Recordkeeping chores. And, as you might guess, you'll have to keep records showing that your business usage was more than 50 percent of total usage of the property. This means that you should keep a log showing each time the property was used, for how long, and for what purpose.

For cars, your mileage records will generally suffice. For computers, cameras, audio/video equipment etc., you should keep a log noting the date, length of time, and purpose for each use of the item. Personal or family use can simply be designated "personal" but business use should show enough detail to enable you to prove the relationship to your work, if necessary in an audit.