Do you know what changed in the tax code last year that makes owning a piece of an airplane a genuinely different financial decision than it was three years ago? Most people don’t. Which is a little wild, because it’s the kind of thing that should be the first line of every fractional ownership conversation, not a footnote at the bottom.
Here’s the short version: 100% bonus depreciation is back, and this time it’s permanent. No expiration date currently on the books. Which means if you buy a fractional share and use it for business, current law lets you write off the entire cost of your share in the year you put it into service. Not over five years. Not a little at a time. All of it, in year one.
Let’s walk through why that’s true, what it actually requires of you, and who this genuinely does and doesn’t make sense for. (Spoiler: it’s not everybody, and I’ll tell you why.)
What Changed
For a few years, business aircraft depreciation was on a slow walk toward the exits. The 2017 tax law that created 100% bonus depreciation had it phasing down… 80% in 2023, 60% in 2024, on its way to zero by 2027. If you were buying, you were racing a clock.
Then, in July 2025, Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), and it reset the clock back to 100%… permanently. No phase-down. No countdown. Applies to both new and used aircraft, as long as you (or your business) haven’t previously owned, leased, or chartered that specific plane.
“Permanent” is doing some work in that sentence, and I want to be straight with you about what it means. It means there’s no scheduled end date under today’s law. It does not mean a future Congress is legally barred from changing it. Treat this as today’s opportunity, not a promise etched in stone. (Same disclaimer I’d want if I were reading this, so I’m not going to pretend otherwise.)
What This Looks Like With Real Numbers
Say you buy a 25% share of a light jet, and for the sake of a clean example, that share runs you $600,000. Under the old, phased-down rules, you’d have depreciated that over several years, chipping away at your tax bill a little at a time. Under the current rule, assuming you clear the business-use bar, you can deduct the whole $600,000 against your income in year one.
That’s the entire pitch, mechanically. Everything else is qualification.
The One Rule That Decides Everything
The deduction only applies if the aircraft is used more than 50% for business purposes in the year it’s placed in service. That’s the whole test. Not 40%. Not “mostly.” More than half.
A few things that trip people up here:
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- Personal trips don’t disqualify you… but they do shrink the deduction proportionally, and you need records to back it up.
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- The deduction scales to your ownership stake. A 25% share depreciates 25% of the aircraft’s value, not the whole thing.
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- The IRS has an active audit campaign focused specifically on private aircraft deductions right now. Flight logs and documented business purpose aren’t optional paperwork.
Is This You?
If your business genuinely uses private travel more than half the time you’re in the air, and you’ve been sitting on the fence about a share, now is a great time to revisit fractional ownership.
Silverhawk Shares is our fractional ownership program, built around a fleet of light and mid-size jets across the Midwest. To learn more or start a conversation, contact us at mark@silverhawk.com or visit silverhawkaviation.com.
P.S. — None of this is tax or legal advice; be sure to ask your CPA for specific questions regarding your situation.
