The site of the Berlin Wall. The Berlin Wall came down 20 years ago, but few of the news stories marking the anniversary have explained the event's full significance. The Cold War had been raging for 14 years before the wall went up on Aug. 13, 1961.
Depreciation Defined. Depreciating an asset means allocating the asset's cost over its useful life. The useful life of an asset, or economic resource, is the period of time over which a company intends to use this asset in operating activities or manufacturing processes. Funded Depreciation Defined. Funded depreciation is a fixed asset management method that helps a company set aside funds to renew machinery and equipment that it uses in operating activities. For instance, a company buys a new truck valued at $100,000 and records $10,000 in annual depreciation expense over 10 years.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act permits taxpayers to take a deduction for state and local sales and excise taxes paid on the purchase of new cars, light trucks, motor homes and motorcycles. The deduction is available on new vehicles purchased from Feb. 17, 2009, through Dec. 31, 2009.he deduction is limited to the taxes and fees paid on up to $49,500 of the purchase price of an eligible vehicle. The deduction is reduced for joint filers with modified adjusted gross incomes (MAGI) between $250,000 and $260,000 and other taxpayers with MAGI between $125,000 and $135,000.