Tax Change Helps Executives Afford Pricier Planes

By Rachel Feintzeig
Sept. 12, 2018 10:51 a.m. ET

The recent changes to the tax code are giving business executives a new perk: the opportunity to deduct the entirety of a corporate-jet purchase.

President Trump signed more than 100 changes to the U.S. tax code into law at the end of last year. Among them: The price of a new or used airplane purchased by a company can be a 100% write-off against its earnings.

That is a major change. Before, buyers of new planes could generally deduct at least 50% of the cost of an aircraft in the first year. Buyers of used airplanes had to take those deductions more slowly.

Marcus Adolfsson, chief executive of online technology publisher Mobile Nations, bought a used Embraer Phenom 100 for just under $2 million at the end of December, right as the new tax law was going into effect. The rule allowing owners to deduct 100% on used equipment was retroactive to late September.


https://www.wsj.com/articles/tax-change-helps-executives-afford-pricier-planes-1536763868