Question

Is accumulated depreciation on a rental property identified anywhere in my prior year tax return?

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
July 23, 2019
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TurboTax Premier Online

Employee

In TurboTax, that figure will appear on two worksheets; the Asset Entry Worksheet and the Depreciation and Amortization Report.

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tim-nusratyAuthor

Thanks, but I can’t seem to find that information in my 2018 filed federal tax return that I downloaded from TurboTax

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tim-nusratyAuthor

Hi, Can you please help point out where precisely accumulated depreciation is reflected on my federal return? Just to clarify, accumulated since purchase 3 years ago so as to determine cost basis. Thank you

Carl11_2

Employee

Prior year depreciation is not reflected anywhere on the SCH E or the 1040. Only the current year's "allowed" depreciation is shown on SCH E line 18. For prior year depreciation you have to look at the IRS Form 4562 which is *NOT* filed with your tax return unless there is a change to or the additional/removal of an asset.

Now there are three 4562's and they are not all the same. One prints in portrait format and is generated *only* if there is a change. The other two print in landscape format and are only printed when you elect the option to print/save *ALL" forms and worksheets. One of those two is titled "Amortization & Depreciation Report" and is the one you're most likely interested in. The other is titled "Alternative Minimum Tax Depreciation Report" and only comes into play for less than 5% of those reporting rental income. So you want the first one mentioned that prints in landscape format.

Carl11_2

Employee

Now when looking at the 2017 IRS Form 4562, to get your prior year's depreciation for 2018, you have to add together the amounts in the "Prior year depr" and "current year depr" in order to get the total prior year's depreciation for your 2018 tax return.

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wiseman

You mean to say, there is a line in the IRS form 4562 which states cumulative depreciation for any given investment property? Could you please provide more details. such form number and line number.

I notice accumulated losses for a property upto last year, current year and carried forward losses (In form 8582) but I do not notice any accumulated depreciation anywhere. I wonder when we sell a property after several years, are we supposed to pull out the IRS tax returns of the year we purchased the specific property and add the depreciation year after year to derive the depreciation recapture amount?