How do I write off Leasehold Improvements?

Forum|Forum|4 months ago
March 8, 2026
1 reply
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I paid contractors-electricians, painters, carpet installer-to renovate my small business office, which I lease and do not own. I am trying to write this off. According to my research, this would be a "Leasehold Improvement", but that option doesn't exist.

I looked at similar Q&A for this and the suggestion from Turbo Tax was to add this to Depreciation of Assets>Other>Other Asset Type. This will not work because the software then wants to know the value of the land. I believe this path is for someone who owns the property.

What is the exact path to enter in these types of expenses?

Also, why is "Leasehold Improvements" not an option? This is an IRS recognized expense.

TurboTax Business Windows

MindyB

Level 13

You can enter and depreciate your leasehold improvements. These types of improvements are now generally called Qualified Improvement Property (QIP) for tax purposes, and this class can be used for either leased or owned property (Publication 946).

Navigate to Federal > Income
Go to (Self‑employment income and expenses) > Review or Edit the business
Under Expenses, choose the pencil icon to the right of assets. If that does not appear, choose Add expenses for this work, and add the expense category of "Assets."
Select "Add" to add an asset
Choose “Other" as the asset category
When asked to further describe, based on the information you provided, select "Qualified property improvements"
Proceed through the interview to compute your expenses.