As an item that has an expected lifetime of more than 1 year, it shouldn't be. It would qualify as a Section 179 asset, which could be entirely expensed in the purchase year subject to some limitations -- such as total amount of other assets similarly expensed, requirement that it be more than 50% used for the deductible purpose etc.

 

Most companies/businesses establish minimum dollar amounts before they capitalize an asset, but those decisions are made counter to tax law. There is a famous tax court case dating back decades where a major corporation expensed a very large number of very inexpensive but durable items and the IRS successfully argued that the expense needed to be spread over the expected life of the items.

 

Bottom line, we're spending more money (time) discussing this than could possibly be recovered through tax savings from claiming these items.

 

Ira Smilovitz