President Signs Small Business Jobs Act

Small Business Jobs Act Awaiting President’s Signature
September 27, 2010
FEI Summary

On Sept. 27, President Barack Obama signed the Small Business Jobs Act. As he signed, he stated, "This is important because small businesses produce most of the new jobs in this country. They are the anchors of our Main Streets."

The House accepted the Senate’s changes to the Small Business Jobs Act 2010 (H.R. 5279) on Sept. 23 by a 237-187 vote. The bill was originally presented in May 13, 2010 as the Small Business Lending Fund Act of 2010 by the House. Before it made it to the House for its final approval, the Senate added several business tax relief provisions to the bill.

The final bill text is available online here, and the technical explanation is available from the Joint Committee on Taxation.

As passed, the bill provides the following:

·         A $30-billion lending fund for small businesses administered by small banks;

·         Tax relief for employer-provided cell phones;

·         $12 billion in tax breaks including a one-year extension of 50 percent bonus depreciation for equipment that goes into service in 2010;

·         Enhancement to federal programs that support very small businesses;

·         Built-in gains (BIG) tax relief – reduces the holding period of BIG assets to five years (available through 2011);

·         Section 179 expensing through 2011; and

·         Five-year carryback of general business credit of eligible small business with less than $50 million in revenue.

For more information, including the revenue offsets, please read Grant Thornton’s Tax Legislative Update and an earlier FEI summary concerning the background of the bill.