The accountant who had been doing my taxes reported the same depreciation about for each year since I purchased a rental property and did some initial improvements. I've entered to accumulated depreciation and see that it is showing up correctly. However Turbo Tax is calculating the current year depreciation differently than what was used in past years. There have been no changes and new improvements made to the property. I'm just trying to roll my depreciation schedule forward. So I want to continue forward using the depreciation schedule that has been used in past years rather than what is being calculated by Turbo Tax. Is there a way to manually enter it and override the Quickbooks calculation?
what's important is to determine why there is a difference. if you were to sell the property the depreciation recapture would be based on the larger of depreciation allowed (taken) or allowable (the amount that should have been taken based on the applicable rate in effect in the year the property was placed into service). you can override the calculated amount but this will prevent e-filing.
here's a link to IRS PUB 946 which details depreciation lives and methods.
Get the depreciation worksheet from the CPA so you can use the same information that he has been using. Everything you need to enter in the TT program is on that worksheet.
If you leave the "prior depreciation" BLANK, does the current year depreciation match prior years?
No ... you must enter that prior year amount or it will affect the current year calculations.
By your reference to "current year" I assume you are working on y our 2020 tax return.
All you need is the IRS Form 4562's from the 2019 tax return for that specific rental property. There are two of them and they both print in landscape format. One is titled "Depreciation and Amortization Report" and the other is "Alternative Minimum Tax Depreciation". You'll probably only need the first one. But have them both just in case.
All the information you need is on the 2019 form 4562. Make sure you enter the data for each item "exactly" as it appears on the 2019 form 4562. There is one exception, and it's *IMPORTANT" you get this exception right.
In TurboTax 2020 you will be asked for "prior year's depreciation already taken". To get that total look at the 2019 form 4562. On that 2019 form 4562 you have to add together the amounts in the "prior years depreciation" column and the "current year depreciation" column. The total will be what you will enter in TurboTax 2020 when asked for prior year's depreciation already taken. You get that wrong, and your 2020 depreciation amount will *not* be correct.
See .About Form 4562, Depreciation and Amortization. Very smart, you do want to maintain the same methods and values.