When President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, he included something for everyone in the $787.2 billion package. As you would expect, many of the tax credits in the package are aimed at giving relief to low- and middle-income taxpayers. For example, the flagship "Making Work Pay" tax credit starts to phase out at just $75,000 of income for an individual ($150,000 for married couples), like quite a few of the credits.

There are, however, substantial benefits in there for many high-net-worth individuals and small business owners. Taxpayers who buy a new car or engage in green home improvements, such as installing solar water heaters, are eligible for credits worth thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars. New deductions for business spending may be worth hundreds of thousands.

Other, smaller credits, such as those for higher education and first-time homebuyers, may prove helpful to your clients' children. Many of the credits kick in on taxpayers' 2009 tax returns. But it's not too early to begin to review how the law affects your clients-and your own business—and start adjusting withholding or estimated payments to reflect the benefits that will come later.

Right now, your clients may be more concerned with their portfolios' recovery than with the new tax goodies coming their way. But strategic applications of these tax treats may be more immediately helpful than any portfolio moves you could make. So prove your worth, and we'll help: Below we have cherry-picked the tax credits that are most likely to be of value to your clients, their children—and to you.

News for Small Business Owners

Some of the most valuable benefits in the stimulus package are the tax credits for small business owners. Independent advisors can utilize these in their own practices too. For example, there have been two significant changes to depreciation deductions to encourage small business owners to invest in their companies.

Many of the business incentives involve complex accounting. To help give some idea of how much each credit might be worth to business owners, we include an estimate (when available) of how much the government expects to pay out over 10 years, courtesy of the Joint Committee on Taxation:

* Equipment expensing: When a business purchases machinery, office supplies, capital equipment or other assets and puts it into service, Tax Code Section 179 allows the taxpayer to take a larger deduction in the first year that the asset is deployed. The expense amount has been increased to $250,000 for 2009.

This great benefit extends the provisions of the 2008 stimulus package, which increased expensing amounts to $250,000 for assets purchased in 2008 and phased out the limitation for businesses that purchased more than $800,000 in assets. These ceilings on expensing assets are now continued for 2009.

* Bonus depreciation. Grow your business. The new law on depreciation allows companies immediately to write off half the cost of assets bought in 2009. This provision is an extension of the 50% bonus depreciation that was allowed under the 2008 Economic Stimulus Act. There is also a higher cap ($8,000) on vehicle depreciation. "They are looking favorably on small business owners who will get a much faster write-off for buying equipment," notes Meg Green, a financial planner in North Miami Beach, Fla. Cost: $5.1 billion over 10 years.

"This law doesn't give you extra depreciation, but it allows you to front-load it. In years that things are tight, that is much appreciated," says Philip Tortorich, a partner at Katten Muchin Rosenman in Chicago, whose clients include small business owners and high-net-worth individuals.

Combined, these changes add up to a substantial deduction. For example, "If a taxpayer places into service a $400,000 piece of property in 2009, he or she can claim a $250,000 Section 179 depreciation as well as another $75,000 bonus deduction, for a total deduction of $325,000," says Tim Steffen, senior vice president at Robert W. Baird of Milwaukee, Wis.

* Loss accounting. Many small firms lost money last year. Now they can turn last year's lemons into lemonade. In another accounting rule change, small firms with average gross receipts of $15 million or less, from 2006 to 2008, now can carry back 2008 net operating losses for three, four or five years instead of the standard two. "This is good for small businesses because they can start using some of the losses they incurred in 2008," Tortorich says. The 20-year carryforward has not changed. Cost: $947 million over 10 years.

* Hiring incentives. Hire a military vet or a high school dropout. The Work Opportunity Credit rewards a small business owner for providing jobs to certain out-of-work individuals. These categories now include unemployed veterans and disconnected youth, who are 14 to 24, not in school and with no family or support networks. Cost: $231 million over 10 years.