The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the "Recovery Act") was signed into law by President Obama on February 17, 2009. The Recovery Act contains several provisions aimed at helping small businesses:

Section 179 expensing. The Recovery Act extends the higher Section 179 deduction limit of $250,000 and the higher phase-out threshold of $800,000. These higher limits were enacted as a temporary one-year measure for 2008 under the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 and are now extended for another year under the Recovery Act.

Bonus depreciation. The Recovery Act extends 50% first-year bonus depreciation through 2009. This bonus depreciation allows businesses to depreciate an additional 50% of the cost of qualifying new (not used) equipment and vehicles purchased in 2009.

Carryback of net operating losses (NOLs). Under the Recovery Act, eligible small businesses with net operating losses in 2008 can carry those losses back for the prior five years. Only businesses with gross receipts of $15 million or less can take advantage of this provision.

Reduced estimated tax payments. The Recovery Act lowers the amount of estimated taxes due to 90% of the previous year's taxes. (Small businesses usually must pay 110% of their prior year's taxes when they pay estimated taxes for the current year.)

Money for SBA programs. The Recovery Act provides $730 million to the Small Business Administration's loan program to stimulate small business bank loans and nonprofit microloans to small businesses.

For more information on these provisions and others, see Nolo's article How the Stimulus Package of 2009 Can Help Your Small Business.