Can I depreciate farm assets (nut trees in my case) purchased in previous years that I forgot to depreciate then on this year's taxes? If so, how do I catch up?

[teaman1]

In reviewing my farm rental crop checks where the farmer has subtracted off the cost of replacing dead trees with new ones he sells me, I forgot to claim depreciation on some of the past years. Can I now enter them on this years tax return? What length of time should I specify given they have been in the ground growing already, some up to 10 years now? Can I still claim 10 yrs for all of them or do I have to subtract how long they have been in the ground?

So a more succinct way to state it... how do I handle this situation?

[Cattlerancher · Accepted solution]

Technically, no you can't catch up. To correct your depreciation on a previous years tax return you are suppose to amend that tax return. You can only go back three years to amend.

Maybe I'm wrong.

If you have your proof of purchase/trade on the trees, why couldn't you enter the asset with "placed into service date" years ago (the correct year), but when TurboTax asks for the prior depreciation enter $0 instead of the figure it assigns. I think TT will increase the amount of depreciation you get each year until it's useful life of ten years is up.