Upgrading From Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008
Fortunately for you, there’s an awesome incentive to help businesses like yours upgrade old, outdated technology and receive a HUGE tax break.
Have you heard of Section 179? It’s a tax code that enables you to take an immediate expense deduction for purchases of business equipment rather than capitalizing and depreciating the asset. Essentially, you’re taking a deduction on an asset within the first year of purchasing, leasing or financing that asset – giving you a huge tax break. The benefit is immediate rather than spreading out the deduction over the item’s useful life. This is particularly helpful for businesses that struggle with the cost of upgrading old, outdated technology. You can use this awesome incentive rather than continue to struggle with old, outdated technology that puts you at risk for:
- Unauthorized access in the form of malware infections and/or viruses
- Slow, lagging performance that impacts productivity throughout the office
- Non-compliance violations leading to fines and/or liability lawsuits
So how does it work? If the full amount of the purchase price qualifies, you’re able to use the deduction on the equipment that is purchased, leased or financed during the year. The deduction limit for 2019 is $1,000,000 – a full MILLION dollars. This gives you a lot of room to make sure you’re making strategic choices when it comes to your information technology.
What type of equipment qualifies for the deduction?
You can purchase general business equipment and off-the-shelf software. You may choose to upgrade:
- Computers
- Business vehicles with a gross weight in excess of 6,000 lbs
- Equipment, such as machinery, for business use
- Off-the-shelf software
- Office furniture
- Property for the building that’s not structural
- And much more
This includes new or used equipment, as long as it qualifies under the deduction limit of $1,000,000 and is put into effect before the deadline: December 31st, 2019 at midnight. You can speak with your tax professional to verify before you make a purchase.
What technologies should I look at replacing before the end of the year?
Naturally, it’s a great time to make sure you’re running supported technology. It’s always better to be safe than sorry when it comes to your infrastructure. After all, old, outdated systems can lead to greater vulnerabilities, slow performance, and other issues that simply aren’t worth the money you’re saving by not upgrading. Here are the main technologies you need to upgrade this year:
- Windows 7: Many businesses are still running Windows 7, the popular operating system, within their environment. But Microsoft is ending support for Windows 7 on January 14, 2020. There will no longer be bug fixes or security patches released – making it entirely unsafe to keep using. Plus, you may experience incompatibility issues with your applications. Look at the hardware you’re using and make sure it’ll support an upgrade to Windows 10. If it doesn’t, you may need to purchase new computers.
- Windows Server 2008 R2: On January 13, 2015, end-of-life mainstream support for Windows Server ended. But there’s nothing huge deadline on the horizon… Microsoft will be ending support altogether on January 14, 2020. Similar to Windows 7, this means there will no longer be bug fixes or security patches released – making it entirely unsafe to keep using. All three available editions, including Datacenter, Enterprise, and Standard, will be unsupported. If you’re running Windows Server 2003 or hyper-V on a Windows Server 2008 R2 platform, make the switch.
Network Security Associates is here to help businesses upgrade their old, outdated technology. We’re the preferred Las Vegas IT company. Call (702) 547-9800 now.
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