Yes — you can write off a computer you bought for your business, and for a machine placed in service in 2026, you can generally deduct the full business-use cost in the first year. The One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act signed in July 2025 permanently restored 100% bonus depreciation for qualifying property acquired after January 19, 2025, so a new or used business computer has no dollar cap on the first-year write-off.1Internal Revenue Service. Treasury, IRS Issue Guidance on the Additional First Year Depreciation Deduction Amended as Part of the One, Big, Beautiful Bill The catch is that only the portion you actually use for business counts, and the right method depends on how much the computer cost, how you use it, and how your business income looks for the year.
Only the Business-Use Portion Counts
Before any deduction method comes into play, you have to figure out what share of the computer’s use is actually for business. Buy a $2,000 laptop and use it 80% for business and 20% for personal browsing, and your deductible basis is $1,600. The remaining $400 is personal and not deductible.
Computers used to be classified as “listed property,” which triggered strict substantiation rules. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act removed computers and peripheral equipment from that category for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017, and that treatment still applies.2Internal Revenue Service. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act: A Comparison for Businesses You still need to know your business-use percentage, though, and for Section 179 specifically you must use the computer more than 50% for business in the year you place it in service.3Internal Revenue Service. Publication 946 (2025), How To Depreciate Property – Partial Business Use
100% Bonus Depreciation: The Default First-Year Write-Off
For most people buying a business computer in 2026, bonus depreciation is the simplest way to get a full first-year deduction. It lets you write off 100% of the business-use cost in the year the computer is placed in service, with no dollar cap and no requirement that your business have positive income.
The rate had been phasing down — 60% for 2024, then 40% for the first few weeks of 2025 — before the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act permanently restored it to 100% for qualified property acquired after January 19, 2025.4Internal Revenue Service. Publication 946 (2025), How To Depreciate Property – Special Depreciation Allowance Any computer bought in 2026, new or used, clears that acquisition date. The property has to be depreciable under MACRS with a recovery period of 20 years or less; computers have a 5-year recovery period, so they qualify easily.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 168 – Accelerated Cost Recovery System Used computers qualify too, as long as it’s the first time you’re placing the property in service in your business.
Bonus depreciation is automatic. You get it unless you affirmatively elect out on your return. And because there’s no income limitation, it can create or deepen a net operating loss, which matters if your business is running at a loss for the year.
Section 179 Expensing: The Elective Alternative
Section 179 is the other route to a full first-year deduction. It lets you elect to treat qualifying business property as a current expense rather than a capital asset you depreciate over time.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S.C. 179 – Election to Expense Certain Depreciable Business Assets For a single computer, the end result usually matches bonus depreciation. The differences show up in the details.
The maximum Section 179 deduction for tax years beginning in 2025 is $2,500,000, phasing out once total Section 179 property placed in service exceeds $4,000,000.7Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 4562 For 2026, those figures will be slightly higher after an inflation adjustment.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S.C. 179 – Election to Expense Certain Depreciable Business Assets Neither cap is going to matter for a computer purchase.
The limitation that does matter: your Section 179 deduction cannot exceed your total business income for the year. Earn $3,000 in your business and buy a $4,000 computer, and you can only expense $3,000 under Section 179 in year one. The unused $1,000 carries forward. Bonus depreciation has no such income cap, which is why a business operating at a loss usually leans on bonus depreciation instead.
What Section 179 gives you in exchange for that income limit is control. Because it’s elective, you pick how much to expense. You could expense $500 of a $2,000 computer and depreciate the rest over five years if you want to spread the tax benefit into later years when your income might be higher. Bonus depreciation is all-or-nothing by property class: take 100% on everything in the class placed in service that year, or elect out of the whole class.
Section 179 also requires more-than-50% business use in the year you place the computer in service.3Internal Revenue Service. Publication 946 (2025), How To Depreciate Property – Partial Business Use
Cheaper Machines: The De Minimis Safe Harbor
If the computer costs less than $2,500, you may be able to skip depreciation entirely. The de minimis safe harbor election lets you deduct the cost as a straight business expense without capitalizing the asset.8Internal Revenue Service. Tangible Property Regulations – Frequently Asked Questions
The threshold is $2,500 per item or invoice for businesses without an applicable financial statement, which covers most small businesses and sole proprietors. Businesses with an applicable financial statement — essentially an audited financial statement — can go up to $5,000.8Internal Revenue Service. Tangible Property Regulations – Frequently Asked Questions To use the election, you need a written accounting policy in place at the start of the tax year requiring you to expense items under the threshold, and you attach a statement to your timely filed return each year. For a $600 Chromebook or an $1,800 refurbished laptop, this is often the cleanest option, with no depreciation schedule to maintain.
Spreading the Deduction Over Several Years
If you want to stretch the deduction rather than take it all up front, the fallback is standard depreciation under the Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System. Computers are 5-year property, though the deductions typically stretch into a sixth calendar year because of the half-year convention.9Internal Revenue Service. Publication 946 (2025), How To Depreciate Property – Property Classes
Not many business owners will choose this path now that 100% bonus depreciation is permanent. It still has uses if you elect out of bonus depreciation and hit your Section 179 income cap, or if you want to preserve deductions for future higher-income years.
Software Bought With the Computer
Off-the-shelf software available to the general public — office suites, accounting programs, creative tools — qualifies for Section 179 expensing the same way hardware does.10Internal Revenue Service. Publication 946 (2025), How To Depreciate Property – Off-the-Shelf Computer Software It also qualifies for 100% bonus depreciation.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 168 – Accelerated Cost Recovery System So you can generally write off the software in year one alongside the machine it runs on.
If you choose not to expense it immediately, purchased software depreciates over three years, straight-line.11Internal Revenue Service. Publication 946 (2025), How To Depreciate Property – Computer Software Subscription software billed monthly or annually is a different animal — it’s deductible as an ordinary business expense in the year you pay, since you’re buying access, not a depreciable asset.
If Your Business Use Drops Later
A big first-year deduction comes with strings attached. If you expense a computer under Section 179 and your business use falls to 50% or less during the five-year recovery period, you owe depreciation recapture: part of the deduction you claimed comes back as ordinary income.12Internal Revenue Service. Publication 946 (2025), How To Depreciate Property – Recapture
The recapture amount is the difference between what you actually deducted (Section 179 plus any bonus depreciation) and what you would have been allowed to deduct using straight-line depreciation over the same period. You report it on Part IV of Form 4797 and include it as income on the same schedule where you originally took the deduction. Your basis in the computer goes up by the recaptured amount, so you’re not taxed twice.
This is the trap. A freelancer who expenses a $3,000 laptop, then takes a full-time W-2 job the next year and barely uses the machine for freelance work, can end up owing recapture. If you suspect your business use might drop off, spreading the deduction over five years under MACRS carries less risk than front-loading everything.
W-2 Employees Are a Different Case
Everything above assumes you’re deducting the computer through a business — sole proprietor on Schedule C, partnership, S corp, or C corp. The deduction reduces business income and, for sole proprietors, your self-employment tax base.
W-2 employees don’t get the same treatment. From 2018 through 2025, unreimbursed employee business expenses were entirely non-deductible under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. That suspension is set to expire after 2025, which would bring the deduction back for 2026 as a miscellaneous itemized deduction subject to a 2% adjusted gross income floor. You’d have to itemize instead of taking the standard deduction, and only the amount above 2% of AGI would count. For most employees, that math doesn’t work out. If your employer will reimburse you through an accountable plan, take the reimbursement.
Interest on a Financed Computer
Financing a business computer with a business loan or business credit card doesn’t change the write-off for the computer itself. The interest you pay is separately deductible as a business expense. Small businesses under the gross receipts threshold are exempt from the business interest limitation that applies to larger companies.
Personal credit card interest is not deductible, even if the card was used to buy business equipment. Run the purchase through a business account or a loan clearly tied to the business.
Records to Keep
None of these deductions holds up in an audit without documentation. Save the receipt or invoice showing what you bought, the price, and the date. If you’re claiming less than 100% business use, keep a log showing how you arrived at the percentage — a monthly spreadsheet noting business hours versus total hours is enough. Electronic records and accounting software work as well as paper, as long as they meet the same standards.13Internal Revenue Service. What Kind of Records Should I Keep
Hold on to records for at least three years from the date you filed the return claiming the deduction.14Internal Revenue Service. How Long Should I Keep Records With an accelerated deduction like Section 179, consider keeping them through the full five-year recovery period, since a mid-period drop in business use can trigger recapture and pull those years back into scope.
Check Your State’s Rules
A federal deduction doesn’t automatically carry over to your state return. Many states conform to federal depreciation rules, but some set their own Section 179 caps or don’t recognize bonus depreciation at all. State Section 179 limits vary widely, with some matching the federal figure and others capping the deduction at $25,000 or so. If your first-year write-off is a big part of your tax planning, confirm how your state treats it before filing, since you may need to add back part of the federal deduction on the state return.