I am Capt. James Fachtmann, CPYB — Florida licensed yacht and ship broker, USCG Master, and a Southwest captain. I run JFA Yacht & Ship from Pompano Beach and Fort Lauderdale, with the same core values at sister firm JFA Aviation. We are not the French shipyard JFA Yachts.

Byline: Capt. James Fachtmann, CPYB — yacht broker, USCG Master, and a Southwest captain. Photo: James Fachtmann / JFA Yacht & Ship.

If you want 100% bonus depreciation on a qualifying yacht on your 2026 return, the date that matters is not the boat-show handshake. It is placed in service by 31 December 2026.

Capt. James Fachtmann, CPYB, at the helm — the mission brief starts here, not with a New Year’s Eve handshake. Photo: James Fachtmann / JFA Yacht & Ship.

What actually changed — and what did not

On 4 July 2025 the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) was signed. Section 70301 restored a permanent 100% additional first-year depreciation deduction under IRC §168(k) for qualified property acquired and placed in service after 19 January 2025.

Treasury and the IRS published Notice 2026-11 (IR-2026-06, 14 January 2026) as current interim guidance: keep the existing §168(k) regulations, swap the old TCJA dates for 19 / 20 January 2025, and treat the rate as a permanent 100%.

I have seen industry notes describe a “window through 2029.” I will not repeat that as statute. The IRS’s language is permanent for property acquired after 19 January 2025. What is not permanent is your 2026 tax year. A 2026 deduction still requires the asset ready and available for its intended business use by 31 December.

April 15 is when the 1040 is due. The yacht clock is different: placed in service by 31 December 2026. Illustration supplied by James Fachtmann.

We first covered the bill here: 100% bonus depreciation for yachting and aviation. The law is signed; Notice 2026-11 is what I send to clients’ CPAs.

Two points I will not let a cocktail-hour rumor overwrite:

1. New and used can both qualify if the property is new to the taxpayer and the used-property acquisition rules are met (no related-party recycle). Original use does not have to begin with you.
2. You claim bonus depreciation unless you elect out of the class. There is also a one-time election, for the first tax year ending after 19 January 2025, to take 40% instead of 100% (60% for certain longer-production-period property and certain aircraft). That is a CPA model — not a broker’s guess.

Who can still use 100% this tax year

A yacht is listed property, not a loophole. The IRS will look at the business, not the brochure. You still need all of the following:

• A real trade or business, with a profit motive. Charter, ordinary-and-necessary client use in an operating company, or a documented equipment-rental activity can fit. A family boat you call “marketing” does not.
• Business use greater than 50% in the placed-in-service year. Fall below that and bonus depreciation is generally off the table; recapture can follow if use slips later.
• Acquired after 19 January 2025. Acquisition usually follows the written binding contract, not the sea-trial selfie.
• Placed in service by 31 December 2026 for a 2026 return. That means ready and available for the intended business use — documented or titled as required, insured, equipped, and not sitting in a six-week refit.
• Contemporaneous records. Logs, charter agreements, invoices, crew payroll, dockage, and a clean split of personal versus business days. If you cannot prove it, you did not earn it.

I do not give tax advice. Gary McKinley at Tideline Solutions — and your CPA — stay in their lane; I stay in mine. For entity structure, collateralizing a brokerage account so you are not forced to liquidate, and a multi-year upgrade plan, start with Business yacht ownership and Offsetting the cost of yacht ownership.

I have said this for years, including in The best time to buy a yacht: if the mission is occasional family use plus a real charter or client program — not a full-time liveaboard — a business-ownership model is the honest way to get on the water without waiting for a mythical “perfect year.”

The practical close is October–November, not 31 December

A clean Florida brokerage deal is not a weekend car trade. Survey, haul-out, sea trial, oil samples, insurance, escrow, USCG documentation or state title, sales-tax paperwork, delivery, and — if the boat is going into charter — a management agreement and a calendar that is actually bookable. Any one of those can slip a week. Two of them can slip you into January.

That is why I tell serious 2026 buyers the practical close is roughly October–November. Sign in December and you are betting the yard, the surveyor, the documentation officer, and the weather. I will not take that bet with your tax year.

The last major in-water show on our home docks before that window tightens is FLIBS, 28 October–1 November 2026, the 67th Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show (MIASF / Informa Markets). If you are still comparing hulls in August, that show is your working deadline, not a cocktail party.

Florida’s boat-tax cap is $18,000 per sale — the same number on a $400,000 express and a multi-million flybridge. Illustration supplied by James Fachtmann.

Florida adds a second, simpler number. Under Fla. Stat. §212.05(5), tax collected on each sale or use of a boat in this state may not exceed $18,000 (repairs are separately capped at $60,000). At the 6% state rate, that ceiling is reached at a $300,000 purchase price. A $400,000 express cruiser and a $4 million flybridge pay the same Florida boat tax. Nonresident removal rules are a different conversation — do not mix them up at the closing table.

For the broader “why Florida” file, see Buying and owning a yacht in the USA.

A working cat on the dock — the class that still fits charter weeks plus a real business-use log. Photo: James Fachtmann / JFA Yacht & Ship.

Same clock, different hangar: JFA Aviation

The same OBBBA dates and Notice 2026-11 framework apply to qualifying business aircraft. CNBC’s Robert Frank said it in plain English: 100% in the year the aircraft is placed in service, new or pre-owned, if the use is qualified business use — not Nantucket every weekend with a logo on the tail.

That is why we built JFA Aviation as a sister, not a side hustle. I fly for a living. The aviation desk runs piston, turbo-prop, and jet brokerage from Fort Lauderdale with the same integrity-first rule we use on the docks. If your mission is a King Air to the job site and a 50-foot cat for charter weeks, you should not explain the tax year to two unrelated firms.

If the mission includes an airframe as well as a hull, we put both files on the same table with your CPA.

Same tax year, different hangar — a PC-12 NGX. Photo: James Fachtmann / JFA Aviation.

What I will do if you call this week

I will not promise a deduction. I will run a mission brief:

1. What is the boat or aircraft for?
2. Can we survey, close, deliver, and have it available for business use before year-end — honestly?
3. Do the Florida $18,000 cap and (if needed) charter management fit the hull?
4. Who is your CPA, and do you want a Tideline-style model before the deposit?

If the honest answer to (2) is “not in 2026,” we plan a 2027 placed-in-service date. The 100% rate is still there next year. Your 2026 return is not.

On the docks at the Palm Beach International Boat Show. Photo: James Fachtmann / JFA Yacht & Ship.

Business use has to be real — logs, invoices, a profit motive. Illustration supplied by James Fachtmann.

Tax and legal disclaimer. This is general information, not legal, tax, or accounting advice, and not a promise that any vessel or aircraft will qualify. IRC §168(k), listed-property limits, at-risk and passive-activity rules, and Florida sales-and-use tax are fact-specific. Coordinate with your CPA and a Tideline-style advisor before you sign a binding contract. Business use must exceed 50%, a profit motive is required, the asset must be acquired after 19 January 2025 and placed in service by 31 December 2026 for a 2026 deduction, and contemporaneous records are required. JFA Yacht & Ship is a brokerage; we do not prepare returns.