Pollution Control Facilities

You can choose to amortize over 60 months the cost of a certified pollution control facility.

Certified pollution control facility. A certified pollution control facility is a new identifiable treatment facility used, in connection with a plant or other property in operation before 1976, to reduce or control water or atmospheric pollution or contamination. The facility must do so by removing, changing, disposing, storing, or preventing the creation or emission of pollutants, contaminants, wastes, or heat. The facility must be certified by state and federal certifying authorities.

The facility must not significantly increase the output or capacity, extend the useful life, or reduce the total operating costs of the plant or other property. Also, it must not significantly change the nature of the manufacturing or production process or facility.

The federal certifying authority will not certify your property to the extent it appears you will recover (over the property's useful life) all or part of its cost from the profit based on its operation (such as through sales of recovered wastes). The federal certifying authority will describe the nature of the potential cost recovery. You must then reduce the amortizable basis of the facility by this potential recovery.

New identifiable treatment facility. A new identifiable treatment facility is tangible depreciable property that is identifiable as a treatment facility. It does not include a building and its structural components unless the building is exclusively a treatment facility.

Basis reduction for corporations. A corporation must reduce the amortizable basis of a pollution control facility by 20% before figuring the amortization deduction.

More information. For more information on the amortization of pollution control facilities, see section 169 of the Internal Revenue Code and the related regulations.

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