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April 17, 2023
Question

Traded truck half way through 2022. What value are they looking for in schedule c line 69?

  • April 17, 2023
  • 1 reply
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I traded my truck in June of 2022. I report the milage use Line 6A Schedule C at 3950 mile for 2022.

Turbo tax used the following to set up "Regular Depreciation" lines 64 - 71 as follows.

Depreciation: MARCS

Assest class: 6

Depreciation method: 200DB

MARCS convention: HY

What value do I place in line 69 Recovery Period?

 

1 reply

April 17, 2023

It depends.  You have the option of using the standard mileage rate or the actual expenses of the vehicle(s) you used for business purposes, both the original truck and the once received in the trade. The recovery period is 5 years and TurboTax will ask  you which method you want to use.  If you select the standard mileage rate then you will TurboTax will not use the depreciation or actual costs to operate the vehicle. The vehicle received in the trade has a cost basis of the trade in value and any extra money you paid for this vehicle.  TurboTax will place the information in the appropriate section of Schedule C on your return

 

The trade of the truck is considered a sale for tax purposes if you used the truck you traded in for business purposes.  The correct action is that you have taken this vehicle out of service (sold, disposed of, etc). For tax purposes, when it was traded/sold you have create a taxable event.  

 

The information below will show what to select so that the vehicle will not come up again and this starts at the federal return. There is a difference in calculating the sale based on whether you used only the standard mileage rate or actual expenses or both. Since you used it since 2001 (?) it is likely fully depreciated.  If this is the case you will have a gain and you must report the sale as well. 

 

The way to report the sale ( or trade-in, trade is not recognized by the IRS any longer for equipment or vehicles) is as follows. You have all the records so it should provide you the detail to move forward.

  1. All business miles for all years and then total miles for all years - divide business miles by total miles to arrive at your overall business use percentage for the life of the vehicle. You will use this percentage times the selling price (trade-in value) to arrive at the business selling price. 
  2. Calculate the standard mileage rate depreciation portion for the business miles each year if that is the method you used for the expenses each year.  If not use the depreciation you actually deducted each year your vehicle was used for your business.
    •  A portion of the standard mileage rate is considered depreciation.
  3. When go to the vehicle information under your business you can select 'Sold, disposed of, etc....' then do not indicate it was sold.  You must say 'Yes' it was converted to personal use.  This will eliminate any sales information in the vehicle it self.
  4. Once you have completed the information in that section you will follow the steps below to enter your sale:
    1. Go to Less Common Business Situations
    2. Scroll to Sale of  Business Property
    3. On the next screen select Any Other Property Sale
    4. Use the information from step one and the depreciation from step 2 to complete your sale
  5. If the personal portion of your vehicle is a loss there is nothing to report for that portion of the sale/trade.  

Once this is completed the state return should reflect the correct changes.  See the depreciation portion of the standard mileage rate below.

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