Aviation tax experts discuss who truly benefits from aircraft tax depreciation and the pitfalls buyers often overlook. Here’s what they told Felipe Reisch.
Tax depreciation is often cited as a financial consideration that can influence a business aircraft acquisition. While it has the potential to improve the economics of ownership in certain situations, the reality is often more complex.
The value of depreciation depends on a range of factors, including how the aircraft will be used, the structure of the acquisition, the owner’s broader financial position, and their long-term plans for the asset.
Zeinat Zughayer, Senior Manager of Tax Advocacy and Controversy at Baker Tilly, shares that buyers who are already frequent users of private aviation and plan to hold an aircraft for the long-term are generally the most likely to benefit from depreciation-related tax incentives.
“For example,” she illustrates, “individuals or businesses that currently rely heavily on fractional ownership or charter services and anticipate sustained aircraft usage may be well positioned to realize the benefits of accelerated depreciation.”
For Noah Block, Aircraft Tax Advisor at Aviation Tax Consultants, business owners are most likely to benefit. “Business owners with customers, clients, prospects, or projects in different locations can buy an aircraft, use it to work more efficiently and effectively, and write it off.
“W2 employees and retirees will see little practical advantage.”
Letisha D. Sailor, Founder & Managing Member at AvTax Advisors, agrees. Those likely to benefit from these incentives are profitable businesses that can maintain sufficient business use over several years and are prepared for the true costs of aircraft ownership.
This article was originally published by AvBuyer on August 27, 2026.