How was this possible? The answer is due to section 179. My client is in the space of manufacturing and distribution in the southeast region of the US. The business has been increasing its revenues at a fast pace over the last couple of years due to the excellent service and quality of product, due to positive forces in the industry, and by industries the company operates. As part of the tax planning during the 2nd and 3rd qtr of 2013, my client and our office met several times to discuss not only the management of the growth of the business but also the possible tax ramification at year end. Well the discussion always has to start with a few questions: what are the current needs of the business? What are the projected needs of the business? How are resources going to be deployed in order to achieve the goals? What are the alternatives that can be considered in order to lower the tax burden? Our firm presented an alternative, or buying a piece of equipment that both would increase efficiency, adds capacity and also that would serve and as big write off at once. This investment of 400K (on a note taking the last qtr of 2013) represented of a huge tax savings to the client at the clip of 160K worth of taxes (federal and state combined). The limit for section 179 for 2013 was 500K. there is no telling on what the limit will be for 2014. It would be a matter of the congress and the lobbying entities (i.e US Chamber of Commerce) decide what the outcome for 2014 will be. Nevertheless section 179 can always be a great alternative if the organization is buying a piece of equipment because it is needed and at the same time use the write off.