Bonus depreciation allows a business to deduct most of the cost of a new or used qualifying asset in the year it’s put into service. In private aviation, this allows you to deduct most or all of an aircraft’s cost when it joins the fleet, instead of over many years.
Current federal percentages
These rules have changed recently. Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, businesses could originally deduct 100% of an asset’s cost in the year it was put into service. But then in 2023 due to policy change, that percentage began dropping by 20 points each year.
One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed July 4, 2025 reversed this change. It restores a full 100% bonus-depreciation deduction for most qualifying property placed in service after January 19, 2025, and keeps that rate in place through at least 2030.
Important: Assets put in service before January 19, 2025 continue to follow the phase-down schedule that began in 2023.
How Craft Pod allocates the benefit
When Craft Pod buys an aircraft, it claims bonus depreciation at the partnership level. That deduction is then split among all members based on their outside basis (basically, their investment share). Cash contributors typically have a higher basis than stock investors, so they often get a bigger share of the first-year write-off. Stock investors get the rest, up to their basis limits.
Key interactions
At-risk rules: you can only deduct losses up to the amount of money you actually have at risk in the Pod.
Passive activity rules: decide whether your share of the loss can offset passive income, active income, or both.
Excess business loss cap: limits how much total business loss you can claim on your personal tax return each year.
Any loss you can’t deduct right away because of these rules gets carried forward to future years until your basis or income increases enough to use it.
Example for 2025
If the Pod buys an aircraft for $10M:
Before January 19, 2025 (when the 40% deprecation still applied), the Pod could deduct $4M.
If you own 10% of the Pod and have at least $1M of outside basis, you’ll get a $400K deduction on your tax form (K-1) for that year.
After the new rules restored 100% bonus deprecation, if the Pod buys an aircraft for $10M after January 19, 2025, it can deduct the full $10M.
If you own 10% of the Pod and have at least $1M of outside basis, you’ll get a $1M deduction on your tax form (K-1) for that year.
Please read our full disclosures before making an investment decision.