# Bonus depreciation planner for GPU servers

Your depreciation by tax year, and the federal tax it could defer. An estimate, not tax advice.

Depreciation in 2026

$1.21M

2 B300 servers, $1.21M of basis

- **Federal tax deferred, 2026 (est.):** up to $448K
- **Pre-tax earnings, 5 years:** $878K
- **Recapture tax at sale, 2031:** $41K

| Tax year | Depreciation | Tax deferred at 37% |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2026 | $1.21M | $448K |

If the loss is passive it may not lower this year’s tax. [How that works](https://managedgpus.com/bonus-depreciation-planner#passive-heading)

**Assumptions**

- Federal tax at 37%, the bracket you picked, as if every dollar of deduction came off income taxed at that rate. No state tax, net investment income tax, or alternative minimum tax.
- The deductions are usable in the year they are taken. Passive activity, at-risk, basis, and excess business loss limits can delay them (see below); for 2026 the excess business loss limit is $256K ($512K joint).
- Basis is the servers plus cluster networking, all 5-year property. Shipping and our setup fee are left out.
- 100% bonus depreciation on the whole basis, no section 179, MACRS 5-year on the rest (half-year convention).
- Placed in service when the servers go live, in May 2026, and owned for the whole schedule.
- Earnings: the earnings calculator's case, a 3-year contract at $4.60 per GPU-hour, then short-term rentals, after the data center and our management fee. Before interest, insurance, and tax.
- Sold after 5 years at 10% of the server price, in 2031. That year takes only the deduction for the year of sale (half-year: half a full year, Pub 946), and the gain over the basis left after it is taxed as ordinary income (recapture).
- Half-year: as the only property placed in service this year, none of its basis went into service in the last three months.

General information, not tax advice. Talk to your tax advisor about your situation.

## Is bonus depreciation available for GPU servers in 2026?

Yes, at 100%, for most new orders. Section 70301 of [Public Law 119-21](https://www.congress.gov/119/plaws/publ21/PLAW-119publ21.pdf) made the special allowance a permanent 100% for qualified property acquired after January 19, 2025, and [Notice 2026-11](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-26-11.pdf) sets out the interim rules. Property under a binding contract from before January 20, 2025 stays on the old phase-down: 20% if placed in service in 2026, none from 2027.

It is the default. Bonus applies unless you elect out for a whole class of property for the year, which the planner lets you model by picking another percentage. The rules for dates, used servers and electing out are in [bonus depreciation in 2026](https://managedgpus.com/guides/accelerated-depreciation/bonus-depreciation-2026).

It changes when tax is paid. Selling the servers later makes the gain, up to the depreciation taken, ordinary income ([Publication 544](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p544.pdf); see [depreciation recapture](https://managedgpus.com/guides/accelerated-depreciation/depreciation-recapture)). States may not follow federal bonus depreciation ([state conformity](https://managedgpus.com/guides/accelerated-depreciation/state-conformity)).

## Passive activity rules for investors

General information from [Publication 925](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p925.pdf) and the statute. Whether and how these rules apply to you is a question for your tax advisor.

Passive losses offset passive income. A loss from a trade or business you don’t materially participate in, or from a rental activity, is generally passive ([IRC 469](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/469)). It can offset passive income, and any unused loss carries forward until you have passive income or dispose of your whole interest in a fully taxable sale.

Rentals are generally passive. A rental activity is passive even if you materially participate. But an activity where the average period of customer use is seven days or less is not treated as a rental activity, so material participation then decides. Which side hourly GPU rentals or a multi-year GPU contract fall on depends on the facts.

Material participation means regular, continuous and substantial involvement, measured by seven tests, such as more than 500 hours in the year. In a managed deployment someone else runs the servers day to day; ask your advisor how that bears on the tests.

Other limits come first or alongside. Losses are limited to the amount you have at risk, which generally leaves out nonrecourse borrowing ([IRC 465](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/465)). Partners and S corporation shareholders are limited by their basis. Noncorporate owners face the excess business loss limit ([IRC 461(l)](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/461)): $256K ($512K joint) for 2026, with the excess carried forward as a net operating loss. C corporations pay the 21% federal rate ([IRC 11(b)](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/11)), and the passive rules reach only closely held and personal service corporations.

## MACRS depreciation for one GPU server

One B300 server at $550,000, placed in service in 2026 under the half-year convention, with no bonus and with 100% bonus. Either way the deductions add up to the cost.

| Tax year | MACRS rate | No bonus | 100% bonus |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2026 | 20% | $110,000 | $550,000 |
| 2027 | 32% | $176,000 | $0 |
| 2028 | 19.2% | $105,600 | $0 |
| 2029 | 11.52% | $63,360 | $0 |
| 2030 | 11.52% | $63,360 | $0 |
| 2031 | 5.76% | $31,680 | $0 |

Rates: [IRS Publication 946](https://www.irs.gov/publications/p946), Table A-1, 5-year property, which includes computers and peripheral equipment. Try other conventions and section 179 in the [MACRS depreciation calculator](https://managedgpus.com/macrs-depreciation-calculator).

## Who takes the deduction

Individual or single-member LLC: on your own return, at your bracket. The planner’s brackets are the 2026 federal rates ([Rev. Proc. 2025-32](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-25-32.pdf)).

S corporation or partnership: passed through to the owners’ returns and taxed at their rates, subject to each owner’s basis, at-risk amount and passive status.

C corporation: deducted by the company at 21%. Nothing passes through to the owners.

## How the planner works, and sources

Updated October 17, 2026. U.S. federal rules for property placed in service in tax years 2025 and 2026, checked October 10, 2026.

Depreciation is the IRS Publication 946 schedule from our [MACRS calculator](https://managedgpus.com/macrs-depreciation-calculator), on the servers and cluster networking at our ballpark prices. Earnings are the [GPU earnings calculator](https://managedgpus.com/gpu-roi-calculator)’s contract case, placed into tax years from the quarter the servers go live. The tax line is depreciation times one federal rate, with every simplification listed under the planner’s table.

1. [IRS, Publication 946 (2025), How To Depreciate Property, for use in preparing 2025 returns (checked October 10, 2026)](https://www.irs.gov/publications/p946)
2. [Public Law 119-21 (July 4, 2025), secs. 70301 (full expensing for certain business property) and 70306 (section 179 dollar limits), 139 Stat. 72](https://www.congress.gov/119/plaws/publ21/PLAW-119publ21.pdf)
3. [IRS, Notice 2026-11, Interim Guidance on Additional First Year Depreciation Deduction under § 168(k)](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-26-11.pdf)
4. [IRS, Publication 925 (2025), Passive Activity and At-Risk Rules](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p925.pdf)
5. [IRS, Publication 544 (2025), Sales and Other Dispositions of Assets, chapter 3 (Section 1245 Property)](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p544.pdf)
6. [IRS, Rev. Proc. 2025-32, section 4.01 (2026 individual income tax rate tables)](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-25-32.pdf)
7. [26 U.S.C. § 11(b) (21% corporate income tax rate), via Cornell LII](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/11)
8. [26 U.S.C. § 469 (passive activity losses; § 469(c)(2) rental activities; § 469(h) material participation), via Cornell LII](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/469)
9. [26 U.S.C. § 465 (deductions limited to amount at risk), via Cornell LII](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/465)
10. [26 U.S.C. § 461(l) (excess business losses of noncorporate taxpayers), via Cornell LII](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/461)

## Bonus depreciation questions

**Is bonus depreciation available for GPU servers in 2026?**

Yes, for qualified property: GPU servers are 5-year MACRS property, and property acquired after January 19, 2025 gets 100% bonus depreciation unless you elect out (Public Law 119-21; Notice 2026-11). Servers under a binding contract signed before January 20, 2025 get 20% if placed in service in 2026.

**What is MACRS depreciation for GPU servers?**

The federal system for recovering the cost of business property. Servers are computers, which MACRS recovers over 5 years: under the half-year convention, 20%, 32%, 19.2%, 11.52%, 11.52%, 5.76% of the cost over six tax years (IRS Publication 946, Table A-1). Bonus depreciation, if taken, comes first.

**How does depreciation on GPU servers affect an investor’s taxes?**

Mainly timing: bonus moves the deduction earlier, and a sale for more than the basis left brings some of it back as recapture. For many individual investors the loss is passive, so it may only offset passive income, and the excess business loss limit caps how much a business loss can offset other income. This planner shows the estimate. Ask your tax advisor how it applies to you.

**Does this planner calculate my tax?**

No. It multiplies each year’s depreciation by one federal rate and lists every assumption. It applies no passive, at-risk, basis, or excess business loss limits, and no state tax.

**Do I materially participate if someone else runs the servers?**

It depends on the facts, and rental activities are generally passive whether or not you participate. Material participation has seven tests in Publication 925, such as more than 500 hours in the year. Ask your tax advisor.

## Planning to buy GPU servers?

- A call with our CTO about what you need
- Ballpark costs and timelines for your budget
- A straight answer if it’s not a fit

Prefer email? [hello@amcompute.com](mailto:hello@amcompute.com)

## Further reading

- [Accelerated depreciation for servers and GPUs](https://managedgpus.com/guides/accelerated-depreciation)
- [Bonus depreciation vs section 179](https://managedgpus.com/guides/accelerated-depreciation/bonus-depreciation-vs-section-179)
- [MACRS for computers and servers](https://managedgpus.com/guides/accelerated-depreciation/macrs-computer-equipment)
- [GPU economics for family offices](https://managedgpus.com/guides/family-office-gpu-economics)

## Want to own GPU servers? We’ll run them.

[Plan a deployment](https://managedgpus.com/bonus-depreciation-planner#discuss)

Source: https://managedgpus.com/bonus-depreciation-planner