4. What could make a tax-efficient equipment purchase a poor contractor decision?

Why it matters: the tax effect can arrive after the cash shortage.

Good-answer framing: show operating need, finance terms, the lowest cash month, delayed customer receipts and tax-benefit timing. Explain lender and surety communication. Ask the expert to distinguish depreciation eligibility from the commercial purchase case.

Follow-up: “Which conditions would make you recommend deferral or renting instead?”

Evidence request: a cash forecast and a separate current-law tax model; use the federal bonus-depreciation guidance as one technical starting point. IRS — IR-2026-06: Additional first-year depreciation guidance, 14 January 2026

Expert quote: ____________________ Speaker/date/permission: ____________________