Section 179 Isn't Free Money. Here's the Math.

Section 179 Isn't Free Money. Here's the Math.

You've heard it: spend $100K on equipment by December 31st, deduct it all, save $21K in taxes. Sounds simple. It's not.

Section 179 lets you deduct capital purchases immediately instead of depreciating them over years. A new CBCT ($80K), three chairs ($45K each), digital sensors. You can deduct the full amount in 2025. But here's what vendors won't tell you: you still need net income to benefit from the deduction. If your practice nets $150K, you can't deduct $200K in equipment and magically get a bigger refund.

The 2025 limit is $1.29 million. You can carry losses forward, but that doesn't help your 2025 tax bill.

Talk to your CPA before buying anything. Not after. The difference between buying the right thing and buying something just to spend money is $20K+ in wasted write-offs. Worse: buyers remorse on equipment you didn't actually need crushes cash flow in a recession.