This year’s HIRE Act extends the special expensing provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for machinery and capital equipment purchased and placed in service during 2010. At this point, it only covers machinery installed in 2010, so time is limited for you to take advantage of the tax break, if you or a qualified vendor are eligible.

You may have learned of the tax program from your company finance department, a tax advisor, or an article in the trade press. For an authoritative review of the Section 179 tax incentives, visit http://www.section179.org/section_179_faqs.html.

The plan includes up to $250,000 in Section 179 write-offs for 2010 small business equipment purchases of up to $800,000 for new machine tools and other capital equipment.

Signed into law on March 18, 2010, this stimulus to purchase capital equipment could have a positive impact on your federal tax liability and allow you to offset a substantial percentage of your 2010 investment in a productivity-boosting Guyson machine.

For machinery with high engineering content and a longer design-and-build cycles, it is essential to plan ahead, since quoted delivery times for complex systems could soon start edging toward the December deadline for the equipment to be installed and in use.

Consult your financial and tax advisors to quantify the potential tax benefits of making your capital equipment investment during 2010. You may find that, by responding to the government stimulus, you can realize a swifter return and more easily secure the process improvements that form the basis of your purchase justification.