Actually, if you have what the IRS determines to be a "luxury" auto, you can never write off 100% of the lease cost but you can use the standard mileage deduction of business use miles as an alternative.
For a leased vehicle the 2018 tax law changes made it more likely that you will be able to deduct all or almost all of the lease payments in the year made.
REMEMBER: What follows is for the percentage of the business use of the leased vehicle, so the lease cost must be adjusted to reflect that!!
If you lease a car, light truck, or van for your business, special tax rules may limit what you can write off. When leasing the vehicle, deductible lease payments must be reduced by an inclusion amount. The IRS has announced the numbers you need to know for 2018 (Rev. Proc. 2018-25). https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-18-25.pdf
Inclusion amounts.
There is
no inclusion amount if the value of the vehicle first leased in 2018 is $50,000 or less.
Due to the increased depreciation allowance, the inclusion amounts have been changed. There is no inclusion amount if the value of the vehicle first leased in 2018 is $50,000 or less. Inclusion amounts begin when the value of the vehicle first leased in 2018 is more than $50,000. In contrast, the inclusion amounts for vehicles first leased in 2017 began with cars valued at more than $19,000, and trucks and vans valued at over $19,500.
Clearly, only a "luxury vehicle" results in any substantial inclusion amount [that is a reduction in the amount of the lease payment that you can deduct!]
- Example: A BMW with MSRP of $70,000 would have a sequence of inclusion amounts for years 1-5 of:
Year One $57 Two $126 Three $187 Four $225 Five $259
- Example: A Tesla with MSRP of $89,000 would have a sequence of inclusion amounts for years 1-5 of:
Year One $102 Two $225 Three $379 Four $454 Five $525
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