With the Senate’s 61-37 vote in favor yesterday, President Obama’s $838 billion economic recovery plan now moves on to possibly contentious House-Senate negotiations. The bill’s tax incentives for businesses have emerged relatively unscathed from the Senate’s scrutiny, and since they coincide at many points with those of the House bill, the chances are good that corporate taxpayers will see at least some benefit from the legislation.

Here are some of the major business tax provisions, based on the Senate Finance Committee’s summary of the amended bill:

Extension of bonus depreciation. The 50 percent bonus depreciation allowed under the 2008 Economic Stimulus Act will be extended for calendar year 2009, at an estimated cost to Uncle Sam of $5.3 billion. The House and Senate versions of the bill are closely similar, but the Senate version contains an additional provision that extends previous legislation allowing companies to claim refundable R&D or minimum tax credits instead of the bonus depreciation.

Extension of Section 179 expensing. The 2008 Economic Stimulus Act increased the amount of small business expensing to $250,000 for 2008 and bumped up the threshold for phase-out to $800,000. The new stimulus bill pushes those tax breaks out to 2009.

Five-year carryback of net operating losses. The bill allows companies to carry back NOLs for five years (rather than the two years currently permitted) for losses arising in tax years beginning or ending in 2008 and 2009. TARP participants are excluded, though.

Small business capital gains. The Senate bill (but not the House version) increases the exclusion for individuals on the gain from the sale of certain small business stock from 50 percent of the gain to 75 percent.

To be sure, these are pretty slim pickings for corporates. The NOL carryback will likely have the most impact on businesses, but it seems perverse to deny it to the many TARP fund recipients who need it most. The bonus depreciation provision is attractive, but you have to wonder how many credit-strapped companies will be able to take advantage of it.

Still, something’s better than nothing, and I’ll be watching the upcoming round of House-Senate conferences with interest. ###