Eligible Property — 2025 Publ 946 (PDF)

To qualify for the section 179 deduction, your property must be one of the following types of depreciable property.

Tangible personal property.
Other tangible property (except buildings and their structural components) used as:

a. An integral part of manufacturing, production, or

extraction, or of furnishing transportation, communications, electricity, gas, water, or sewage disposal services;

b. A research facility used in connection with any of

the activities in (a) above; or

c. A facility used in connection with any of the activi ties in (a) for the bulk storage of fungible commodities.

Single-purpose agricultural (livestock) or horticultural structures. See chapter 7 of Pub. 225 for definitions and information regarding the use requirements that apply to these structures.
Storage facilities (except buildings and their structural components) used in connection with distributing petroleum or any primary product of petroleum.
Off-the-shelf computer software.
Qualified section 179 real property (described below).

Publication 946 (2025) Chapter 2 Electing the Section 179 Deduction 15

Tangible personal property. Tangible personal property is any tangible property that is not real property. It includes the following property.

Machinery and equipment.
Property contained in or attached to a building (other than structural components), such as refrigerators, grocery store counters, office equipment, printing presses, testing equipment, and signs.
Gasoline storage tanks and pumps at retail service stations.
Livestock, including horses, cattle, hogs, sheep, goats, and mink and other fur-bearing animals.
Portable air conditioners or heaters placed in service by you in tax years beginning after 2015.
Certain property used predominantly to furnish lodging or in connection with the furnishing of lodging (except as provided in section 50(b)(2)).

The treatment of property as tangible personal property for the section 179 deduction is not controlled by its treatment under local law. For example, property may not be tangible personal property for the deduction even if treated so under local law, and some property (such as fixtures) may be tangible personal property for the deduction even if treated as real property under local law.

Off-the-shelf computer software. Off-the-shelf computer software is qualifying property for purposes of the section 179 deduction. This is computer software that is readily available for purchase by the general public, is subject to a nonexclusive license, and has not been substantially modified. It includes any program designed to cause a computer to perform a desired function. However, a database or similar item is not considered computer software unless it is in the public domain and is incidental to the operation of otherwise qualifying software.

Qualified section 179 real property. You can elect to treat certain qualified real property you placed in service during the tax year as section 179 property. If this election is made, the term “section 179 property” will include any qualified real property that is:

Qualified improvement property, as described in section 168(e)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code; and
Any of the following improvements to nonresidential real property placed in service after the date the nonresidential real property was first placed in service.

Roofs.
Heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning property.
Fire protection and alarm systems.
Security systems.

For more information, see Special rules for qualified sec- tion 179 real property, later.

Qualified improvement property. Generally, this is any improvement to an interior portion of a building that is nonresidential real property if the improvement is placed

in service after the date the building was first placed in service.

Also, qualified improvement property does not include the cost of any improvement attributable to the following.

The enlargement of the building.
Any elevator or escalator.
The internal structural framework of the building.