A House bill approved recently includes provisions to extend tax breaks for retail/restaurant companies looking to remodel. The Energy and Tax Extenders Act of 2008 allows retailers who lease their stores to write off remodeling costs over 15 years.

The bill extends the 15-year depreciation period first approved in 2004, which was set to expire at the end of the year (previous tax laws required retailers to write off remodeling costs over 39 years). Part of the reasoning for the extension, was to help boost the economy by encouraging more companies to re-invest in their businesses.

Unfortunately, for most retailers remodeling is not an option, but in a difficult economic environment remodeling can help improve sales trends.