youll buy will be considered capital items, which depreciate over their useful lives. All pre-opening expenses represent your capital investment in the business, regardless of whether they are treated as capital items or expense items. If you have doubts about whether an item can be depreciated, ask your accountant.           Common Items in a Capital Spending Plan     Heres a list of common items businesses need to buy before opening. Note that they fall into two categories-capital items and expense items.     Capital items generally have a useful life of more than one year and can be depreciated for tax purposes. They include:     permanent signs, heaters, air conditioners, cooking and refrigeration equipment     equipment, including machinery, large tools and other expensive items     racks and display fixtures for retail selling areas     office furniture     leasehold improvements or any alterations you make to the building, including walls, bathrooms and carpeting     computers, typewriters, fax machines, adding machines, cash registers, phone systems and other small equipment you purchase.     Expense items generally are shown as either fixed expenses or costs of sale at the time they are purchased because they last less than one year. They include:     opening inventory (sometimes you can get a deferred payment schedule from suppliers, but you will usually have to pay for many, if not most, goods before you sell them)     lease deposits     tax deposits     business licenses and permits     opening marketing and promotion     insurance     telephone installation