OBBBA bonus depreciation
United States One Big Beautiful Bill Act provision allowing up to 100 percent first-year depreciation on yachts placed in commercial service between 2025 and 2029.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 (in force January 2025) restored 100 percent bonus depreciation on qualifying business assets including yachts placed in commercial service between 20 January 2025 and 21 December 2029. Conditions, drawn from US tax-law business-use principles, require greater than 50 percent charter use and greater than 50 percent US-waters time, with contemporaneous documentation. Identified by Stewart Campbell of BOAT International as the largest single driver of the 2025 surge that took global yacht transactions to USD 8.5 billion. Pre-transaction US yacht-tax counsel review essential.