With Congress' passage of the Protecting Americans From Tax Hikes Act of 2015 (PATH), Congress did more than just protect Americans from tax hikes...they eliminated depreciation altogether for most small businesses.
In PATH, Congress extended Section 179 depreciation permanently, which means that from 2015 until infinity, a business can expense 100% of the cost of most new or used assets in the year of purchase, as long as the cost doesn't exceed $500,000 or the total assets purchased don't exceed $2 million.
This new law achieves what small business owners have been vying after for some time - that cash spent is directly related to a tax deduction.
Couple this new law with the repair regs, which allow a small business to elect all expenses $2,500 or less are repairs and maintenance, and Congress has effectively eliminated the need for depreciation to extend over a number of years.
Think about it: if a small business buys a new computer for $1,000, they can expense it. If they buy a new x-ray machine for $25,000, they can expense it. The only time a small business will get into a situation of having to depreciate an asset is if it does not qualify for Section 179 or it costs more than $500,000.
This is a dream come true for small business owners that live by cash flow and want all of their purchases to translate into tax deductions.