Having just provided the bad news regarding Qualified Improvement Property, here is some good news:
There appears to be a small window of time in which QIP will qualify for 100% bonus depreciation. If you have QIP that was acquired and placed in service after September 27, 2017 and before December 31, 2017, you could be eligible for 100% bonus depreciation.
Given this window, and the possibility of no technical correction, companies should pay close attention to the placed in-service date for any QIP and determine if there is a supportable position to place the property (or portions of) in service before December 31, 2017.
Note that if there was a written binding contract signed prior to September 27, 2017, the property is only eligible for 50% bonus.
But there are other mistakes Treasury can't maneuver around, he said. The report from Congress detailing the new law says that qualified improvement property—a category held by retailers, restaurateurs, and leasing businesses—is eligible for 15-year depreciation. But the statute doesn't assign it a category, so it would fall into the 39-year period by default. “My reaction is that there's not much we can do,” Trier said. “I'm not sure how Treasury can bail that one out.”
