I am working for a multistate large manufacturing company which is
planning to increase its fixed asset capitalization minimum limit from
$600 to $3000. In other words, the company will only capitalize "fixed
assets" above $3000 and the rest will be expensed.

So..going forward... what will be the implications of this increase
from a property tax perspective? Can the company consider the fixed
assets listed in the books of accounts as the assets (above $3000) for
property tax? OR will it be required to track,disclose and pay
property tax on the assets under $3000 (expensed) as well? Guidance
and real examples on these questions will be greatly appreciated.

Good Luck

Striketenn

I'm not entirely sure that this will answer your question.  Let me
know if I am on the right track.  Any suggestions would be great. 
First, I want to point you in the direction of some companies that may
have dealt with this sort of thing.  Since they are public, you should
be able to backtrack through the
financials, and see what happened with the tax rates.  

To use your example, you wanted to look @ companies s.t. Fixed Assets went from 
$600 to $3000.  I don't know much about accounting, or whether "fix.
assets" will be the same as "fix. asset cap;" but in the following
example, that is my assumption.


The following formula assumes that "Total Assets - Current Assets" =
fixed asset capitalization.  It limits search to:

1.  Manufacturing Companies
2.  The Year over Year Chg in Fixed Assets is greater than 100%
(though you actually listed a 300% chg example)

The following is a list of companies that met this criteria between
year 2004 and 2005 as well as the specific % Chg Yr-Ovr-Yr of the
Fixed assets.

Symbol	Company Name	%CHG	Company
ARGN	Amerigon Inc.	764.78%	http://www.amerigon.com
COHT	Cohesant Technologies Inc.	613.51%	http://www.cohesant.com
MGOA	Megola Inc.	578.95%	http://www.megolacorp.com
IPUR	Innova Pure Water Inc.	430.53%	http://www.innovapurewater.com
MTNA	Material Technologies Inc.	240.04%	http://www.matechcorp.com
ATU	Actuant Corp.	214.23%	http://www.actuant.com
ESLR	Evergreen Solar Inc.	208.77%	http://www.evergreensolar.com
SPC	Spectrum Brands Inc.	201.80%	http://www.spectrumbrands.com
CESV	China Energy Savings Technology Inc.	185.49%	unkown
VSTH	VitalStream Holdings Inc.	151.55%	http://www.lardav.com

The following is a list of companies that met the same criteria, but
between 2004 and 2003:


Symbol	Company Name	%CHG	Company
GMOC	Green Mountain Capital Inc.	58600.76%	http://www.arsnetworks.com
CESV	China Energy Savings Technology Inc.	28844.85%	#N/A
EFTI	EarthFirst Technologies Inc.	12546.87%	http://www.earthfirsttech.com
BKYI	Bio-key International Inc.	9524.14%	http://www.sacman.com
OVEN	TurboChef Technologies Inc.	6276.76%	http://www.turbochef.com
UDTT	Universal Detection Technology	3650.26%	#N/A
HYFS	Hybrid Fuel Systems Inc.	3293.33%	http://www.electronicfuelcontrol.com
MTNA	Material Technologies Inc.	3109.09%	http://www.matechcorp.com
AITX	Airtrax Inc.	1482.97%	http://www.airtrax.com
IZZI	Integrated Security Systems Inc.	762.78%	http://www.integratedsecurity.com
HOGC	Heartland Oil & Gas Corp.	735.39%	#N/A
ARTX	Arotech Corp.	501.48%	http://www.electric-fuel.com
ASVI	A.S.V. Inc.	456.49%	http://www.asvi.com
QTWW	Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide Inc.	352.47%	http://www.qtww.com
BNSIA	BNS Holding Inc.	329.90%	http://www.brownandsharpe.com
ADES	ADA-ES Inc.	231.44%	http://www.adaes.com
EENT	Energy & Engine Technology Corp.	214.06%	http://www.eent.net


And the following are the companies, matching the criteria between
years 2003 and 2002.

VCC	Pop N Go Inc.	784.36%	http://www.veri-tek.com
MICG	Arotech Corp.	766.48%	http://www.microfield.com
DSTI	Bio-key International Inc.	356.50%	#N/A
SOTK	Energy & Engine Technology Corp.	323.31%	http://www.sono-tek.com
MOCC	Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide
Inc.	293.06%	http://www.andersengrp.com
ORYX	BNS Holding Inc.	246.15%	http://www.oryxtech.com
SPIR	DayStar Technologies Inc.	242.24%	http://www.spirecorp.com
SPC	Millennium Cell Inc.	229.00%	http://www.spectrumbrands.com
THMD	Global Power Equipment Group Inc.	223.71%	http://www.thermadyne.com
DESC	TurboChef Technologies Inc.	208.14%	http://www.protonenergy.com

My source was "Factset / Compustat Annual Database"

However, part of your question seems to be about the tax laws, which
unfortunately I don't know a lot about.

Are you asking about the tax implication of reporting capital vs.
operating leases?  If so, I might be able to help with that.

For Capitalization, you can write off D&A.  For operating, you usually
cannot (this will depend on what the irs allows---which will depend on
a number of criteria that can be found on their web-site).  In
determining whether or not you can depreciate the asset, your answer
will depend on the type of asset.  For example, is the fixed asset
machinery, or land?  This will make a difference.  Let me know a
little more about the problem at hand.  Alternatively, if you want the
specific historical numbers used in the above calculations, let me
know.  Or if you want to look @ reported tax rates,D&A, or any other
historical values, please let me know.  For now, I don't want to
clutter this page.

Are you really asking about "property tax"?
In the States this is generally understood to be a state tax on real
estate, based on the county assessor's estimate of the value of the
land and buildings.
I cannot imagine that any improvements in the range $600 - $ 3000 will
influence this.

A change in the accounting policy to expense investments under $3000
would effect the accounting for depreciation.  For tax reporting, it
could be necessary to still book the equipment as assets.  I am too
far removed to know.
Perhaps these sites are of interest:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_179_depreciation_deduction
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/itax/Edit/tips/Stories/sec179_deduction.asp