You are currently sitting on an urgent and valuable opportunity: utilizing remaining CapEx funds before the fiscal year-end. Every time a new CapEx cycle comes around, you’re faced with having to decide what deserves funding and what can wait. The most critical factor is the timing, as the window to spend your funds and realize a massive tax benefit is closing.

Spending on access control systems, business security services, and audiovisual (AV) systems becomes a high-ROI decision when you can deduct the entire cost in the current tax year. The permanent reinstatement of the 100% Bonus Depreciation rule allows you to do just that, allowing you to deduct the entire cost of the investment on your current tax return.

The window for the procurement and installation required to ‘place the property in service’ before the deadline is closing fast. When these systems are seen as part of a larger plan, they stop being isolated costs and start working as a unified platform that supports your manufacturing operation from the floor to the boardroom.

Why You Must Engage an Integrator Immediately

To qualify for the 100% depreciation benefit, equipment must be acquired and placed in service before the end of the calendar year. For the record, this is not just an accounting deadline – it’s a logistics race. If you wait for the last minute, you risk the entire investment due to:

  • Quote and Budget Finalization: Time is needed to adjust project designs and pricing for security and AV to fit your precise remaining budget.
  • The Procurement Chain: A Purchase Order (PO) must be issued, and parts must be procured and received by your company (a frequent requirement to qualify the spend). Supply chain and shipping delays are major risks to project timelines.
  • The Holiday Lag: Key staff (yours and your integrator’s) being on holiday, combined with reduced vendor operations, creates massive room for error and delays that will push the ‘placed in service’ date into the next tax year.

Align CapEx With Strategic Goals

Before plugging in line items, ask what your priorities are. Do you need tighter access control in sensitive zones? Do you want video coverage that links to production metrics or safety alerts? Or do you want meeting rooms and training spaces with sharp AV to promote seamless communication? The immediate tax advantage makes this the best time to invest, and those are the kinds of priorities that will shape your budget categories.

Avoid blindly dumping funds evenly across departments. Rather, allocate capital to projects that align with reduced downtime, better safety, maximized efficiency, or improved worker interaction.

Develop A Modular Rollout Plan

You probably don’t have the money to overhaul everything in one year. Therefore, you should plan a modular rollout, using remaining funds to launch Year One of a larger modular plan.

For instance, you might want to start with installing access control systems in your most critical zones, like your entrance and stock rooms. In year two, you can expand these systems into general production areas.

Similarly, you might want to phase in AV systems where communication gaps inflict real cost, such as boardrooms and training rooms, or if you need multi-site connectivity. Now you can pair video feeds from new security cameras to these zones, so your business security services infrastructure grows alongside.

Leverage Integration and Analytics

Modern systems can talk to each other. A card access event might trigger a camera zoom-in or send an alert to central monitoring. Video analytics can detect unauthorized entry or loitering, freeing security personnel to respond where it’s most pertinent.

Invest in systems built for integration, rather than standalone devices. That way, your CapEx dollars can compound in value.

Promote Stakeholder Buy-In

Your plant managers, finance teams, security personnel, and quality assurance department must see these urgent investments as more than just a frivolous expense.

To do this, frame each investment in metrics. Highlight how these systems will lead to fewer thefts, fewer safety events, faster issue diagnosis, smoother communication, and improved efficiency.

Use these end-of-year investments to establish pilot zones to showcase the value early so you can achieve buy-in. A successful pilot in one assembly line or shift can unlock broader CapEx approval.

Contact Fearing’s immediately to review your remaining CapEx funds. Don’t risk losing the 100% bonus depreciation—let us help you deploy a resilient platform of access control systems or audiovisual (AV) systems before the year-end deadline.