2014, I bought a business for $20K, a bookkeeper looked & said i should not have claimed the $20K on one return and have to amend. what's the next best course of action?

[NBusiness]

She mentioned something about either amortization or depreciation. How do I tell what should be depreciated and what should be amortized and how much of each? Will turbo tax be able to guide that? I've not had to amend before.

[MinhT · Accepted solution]

You cannot deduct the price you paid for your business as an expense in the year you acquired the business. If you did so, you need to amend your 2014 tax return. You will also need to amend your 2015 tax return to claim depreciation and amortization of your business assets as you did not claim these expenses in 2015.

When you acquire a business, usually the price you paid is for tangible assets (e.g. computers, equipment, furniture, etc..) and intangible assets (goodwill, trade name, etc...) which are called Section 197 Intangibles by the IRS.

Tangible assets are depreciated over their useful lives. Section 197 Intangibles are amortized over 180 months.

In general, your sale and purchase agreement for the business should mention the assets acquired and the price paid for each category of assets. If there is no detail, then you should make your estimation of the allocation of the price between the assets.

Please see the following IRS document on Amortization:

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p535/ch08.html

In TurboTax, to enter your business assets, go to Business, then to the Business Assets page (see screenshot attached). Click on Start next to Assets Being Depreciated and TurboTax will guide through a questionnaire to enter each business assets.

To amend your returns, please read the following TurboTax FAQ:

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1894381-how-to-amend-change-or-correct-a-return-you-already-filed