If you’ve been sitting on the fence waiting for the right time to upgrade or add to your fleet and equipment inventory, that time might be right around the corner. The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill including a provision allowing small businesses to immediately deduct from taxes the entire cost of capital equipment up to $500,000.

That means if you want to buy a new vacuum truck, specialty restroom trailer, order of portable restrooms or other big-ticket equipment, you can deduct the full amount of the purchase from your 2010 taxes instead if having to take depreciation and spread the deduction over a number of years.

The Senate passed the same bill last week, and President Obama is expected to sign it into law on Monday. The overarching $42 billion measure aims to create some 500,000 jobs, and to make credit more available to small businesses.

The Small Business Jobs Act authorizes the Treasury Department to set up a $30 billion fund to deliver very-low-cost capital to banks with less than $10 billion in assets. The aim is to help community banks lend money to owners of Main Street businesses. The bill also includes about $12 billion in small-business tax breaks to encourage owners to buy equipment and motivate people to start businesses.

Of greatest interest to pumping contractors is the increase in so-called Section 179. This section of the tax code lets you write off capital expenditures immediately and quickly put cash in your pocket. Businesses had been allowed to write off up to $250,000 of equipment through 2009. The new bill extends the benefit through 2011 and raises the maximum to $500,000.

Watch for a more detailed explanation of these benefits in an upcoming issue of Pumper. To find out for sure how this new bill will affect your equipment purchases, consult your accountant or financial advisor.