Last-Minute Ways to Save on Your Taxes Consider these ideas for tax breaks on your 2011 taxes.
By Gwen Moran •
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Tax day this year falls later than usual, on April 17. Small-business owners might use those extra 48 hours to make sure they've applied these 2011 tax breaks.
Bonus depreciation: This allows businesses to recover the cost of capital expenditures over time, according to Sandy Abalos, managing partner of Phoenix accounting firm Abalos & Associates. Qualifying expenditures--including leasehold, restaurant and retail improvements, placed in service after Sept. 8, 2010, and before Jan. 1 of this year--enjoy a first-year depreciation deduction equal to 100 percent of the expenditure, up to $500,000. The deduction drops to 50 percent in 2012.
Small-business healthcare tax credit: Businesses with fewer than 25 full-time employees making an average of less than $50,000 per year are eligible for a health insurance credit, according to John "Trey" Webb of Atlanta accounting firm Bennett Thrasher. The maximum credit is 35 percent for small employers.