100% Bonus Depreciation Is Permanent. But Your 2026 Deduction Still Has a Closing Deadline

The law no longer sunsets. Your calendar still does. If you want a 2026 first-year deduction on a qualifying aircraft, it has to be acquired and placed in service this year, and mid-August is already tight.

By Capt. James Fachtmann -- CPYB · JFA Aviation · 20 August 2026

Embraer Phenom 300E, the class still trading while the 2026 clock runs. Photo: The.rud / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

If you have been waiting for the tax law to settle, it already has. What has not settled is whether your airplane will be ready and available for business use before 31 December 2026.

One hundred percent bonus depreciation is now permanent for qualifying property. A 2026 deduction is not. The deduction follows the year the aircraft is placed in service, not the year you start shopping, sign a letter of intent, or wire a deposit.

The law is permanent. Your 2026 close is not.

On 4 July 2025, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) was signed into law. It restored 100% additional first-year depreciation for qualifying property acquired and placed in service after 19 January 2025. The old phase-down (40% in 2025, 20% in 2026, then zero) is gone. There is no scheduled phaseout.

The IRS followed with Notice 2026-11 (IR-2026-06, 14 January 2026). For most buyers the live question is no longer “will 100% still be there next year?” It is “can this airplane be acquired, delivered, and placed in service in this tax year?”

That is why the market is still moving. IADA’s Second Quarter 2026 Market Report (27 July 2026) named continued U.S. 100% bonus depreciation as a primary demand driver, next to long OEM backlogs and historically tight high-quality inventory. Closed private business-aircraft deals rose 21% year over year to 746 in the first half of 2026. Younger midsize and large-cabin aircraft remain scarce. Sellers have leverage. Buyers who hesitate lose the airplane, and sometimes the year.

Pre-buy and hangar time is what eats the calendar, not the handshake. Photo: Alan Wilson / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Glass cockpit and HUD on the ramp. The file has to match the mission, not the brochure. Photo: James Fachtmann / JFA Aviation.

Mid-August is already late for year-end

Count backward from 31 December. IADA-accredited dealers averaged 150 days to complete a sale in the first half of 2026, versus 212 days for the broader industry. From 19 August you have 134 days. A clean letter-of-intent-to-close can run 28 to 45 days when records are tight and a pre-buy slot is open. That is the optimistic path, not the path most buyers walk when they are still sourcing.

The real sequence is source → offer → inspect → remediate → escrow → title and registration → delivery → placed in service. Delivery and placed-in-service are not the same date. An airplane waiting on a part, a 337, insurance, or an operating agreement is not yet in your trade or business.

Two facts make August later than it looks. First, the airplanes that sell (clean records, honest engine time, interiors that match age and value) get multiple looks. We covered that in What Actually Sells in the 2026 Business Jet Market (link: https://jfa-aviation.com/blog/what-actually-sells-in-the-2026-business-jet-market). Second, Q4 capacity gets worse: MRO slots, inspectors, and parts pipelines fill. IADA members flagged labor shortages and limited pre-buy availability into the fourth quarter. jetAVIVA’s mid-year update said buyers hoping to take delivery before the holiday travel season should already have been in the market.

If you are still watching listings this week, you are not early. One deferred inspection item can push placed-in-service into 2027. The deduction can still exist next year. The 2026 offset will not. As we wrote in the 2025 Jet Market Snapshot (link: https://jfa-aviation.com/blog/2025--jet-market-snapshot--what-buyers---sellers-should-know), turnkey pedigree moves and records holes sit. You need an airplane that fits how you actually fly, can get through inspection, and can be placed in service before the calendar flips.

HondaJet cockpit at a show. Photo: James Fachtmann / JFA Aviation.

What still has to be true

Bonus depreciation is not a sticker on the airframe. It is a tax result your CPA and aviation counsel will have to defend.

• Business use over 50%. The aircraft has to be used predominantly in a trade or business. Personal and entertainment hours can blow the test. Get that analysis before you pick a cabin.
• Placed in service in 2026 for a 2026 deduction. Title transfer and “we’re almost done with the pre-buy” do not create the deduction.
• New to you. New and pre-owned can both qualify if this is the taxpayer’s first use of that airplane. Related-party deals and airplanes you already used can fail.
• Recapture is real. If business use later falls below the threshold, the IRS can pull back bonus depreciation you already took.

JFA Aviation coordinates the transaction and the advisor conversation. We do not prepare the return. We will not tell you a serial number “gets you 100%.”

Pair the tax calendar with a clean process: Buying Your First Aircraft with Confidence (https://jfa-aviation.com/blog/buying-your-first-aircraft-with-confidence) and Expert Tips for Buying a Private Jet (https://jfa-aviation.com/blog/expert-tips-for-buying-a-private-jet--insights-from-jfa-aviation). If whole ownership is still the open question, read Comparing Private Aircraft Ownership, Charter, and Fractional Ownership (https://jfa-aviation.com/blog/comparing-private-aircraft-ownership--charter--and-fractional-ownership) before you lock a search.

Phenom 300-class, airstair open. Photo: JetRequest.com / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Pilatus PC-24 OY-TWO. Photo: Anna Zvereva / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Same code, different hull: JFA Yacht & Ship

The same OBBBA restoration applies to other qualifying business property, including yachts used in a bona fide trade or business. The tests are not identical to aviation, but the deadline logic is: placed in service in 2026 if you want a 2026 deduction, business use over 50%, and recapture if use later fails.

If your capital plan includes a business aircraft and a business yacht, work the two desks together. The 2026 placed-in-service clock for yachts is already live: https://jfayacht.com/about-us/blog/yacht-2026-bonus-dep-clock/
The marine briefing is also up: https://jfayacht.com/about-us/blog/bonus-depreciation-for-yachting-and-aviation/
JFA Yacht & Ship is the sister brokerage. Same core values, same habit of coordinating with outside tax advisors instead of pretending we are one.

On the docks with a JFA Yacht & Ship guest. Photo: James Fachtmann / JFA Yacht & Ship.

OCEANUS, a sailing cat, the hull class that still fits charter weeks and a real business-use log. Name on transom; not a JFA listing. Photo: James Fachtmann / JFA Yacht & Ship.

A Heesen at the harbor wall. Yard photo, not a JFA listing. Photo: James Fachtmann / JFA Yacht & Ship.

Side balcony / beach-club platform. Photo: James Fachtmann / JFA Yacht & Ship.

What JFA Aviation will and will not do

Capt. James Fachtmann, CPYB, on the ramp. Photo: James Fachtmann / JFA Aviation.

Capt. James Fachtmann is CEO of JFA Aviation and JFA Yacht & Ship, a Southwest Airlines captain, and a Certified Professional Yacht Broker (CPYB). JFA Aviation is a boutique aircraft brokerage and advisory shop: buy and sell piston, turboprop, and jets; acquisition consulting; valuations; and tax-strategy coordination with your advisors.

Cabin walk-through at a show. Photo: James Fachtmann / JFA Aviation.

We are not a Part 135 operator, not an FBO, and not a tax-preparation firm. Call this week and we will define the mission, source airplanes that can actually close in 2026, run a placed-in-service critical path, and sit with your CPA so the contract matches the deduction you think you are buying. Sellers with a clean, late-model airplane: tax-motivated buyers are still in the market. They will not wait for a messy logbook.

Do this before Friday. Ask your CPA, in writing, whether a 2026 placed-in-service aircraft still helps your return. Write the mission (stage length, seats, runways, hours) and throw out the brochure airplanes. Then call us. We will tell you whether a 2026 close is still honest for your category, or whether you should plan for 2027.

Permanent law. Temporary calendar. The first one is Congress’s job. The second one is yours.

Talk to JFA Aviation and JFA Yacht & Ship

Ready to source, inspect, and close with a real placed-in-service date, or to run the same play on a qualifying yacht?

Call 844-532-7447 or 954-732-5825
Email [email protected] or [email protected]
Aviation: https://jfa-aviation.com
Yachts: https://jfayacht.com

Ask for Capt. James Fachtmann or the JFA Aviation desk. Say you are working a 2026 placed-in-service target so we start the clock on day one.

Tax and use disclaimer

This article is general information, not tax, legal, or accounting advice. Eligibility for 100% bonus depreciation under IRC §168(k), as amended by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, is fact-specific. Qualifying generally requires that the aircraft (or other qualified property) be acquired and placed in service after 19 January 2025, that this be the taxpayer’s first use of the asset, and that it be used more than 50% in a qualifying trade or business. A 2026 deduction requires the asset to be placed in service in 2026. If business use later falls below the required threshold, recapture can apply. JFA Aviation and JFA Yacht & Ship are brokerages and advisors, not a Part 135 operator, FBO, or tax-preparation firm. Confirm every number, election, and structure with your own CPA and counsel before you make an offer.