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New Member
posted Feb 11, 2020 7:05:48 PM

TurboTax Handling of Leasehold Improvement Depreciation when Lease Terminated Early

I have terminated a lease which still had years of depreciation remaining (say $13,000.).  In TurboTax, I entered that I stopped using the asset 9/1/2019.  Does TurboTax automatically handle the remaining $13K as an expense or do I need to enter this amount elsewhere in TurboTax as a current year business expense?  When I look at the Depreciation Worksheet, it seems like only $462 (a partial year) is showing up as depreciation in 2019, yet I expected the entire $13K to show up.   Note - I use Cash Basis accounting method.  Also - it is possible that the depreciation amount is getting limited in 2019 due to having a net loss if 100% of depreciation of new assets were included.

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3 Replies
Expert Alumni
Feb 11, 2020 7:28:53 PM

As this is a loss of leasehold improvements, you should enter in TurboTax that you have sold the asset for 0 on the day you abandoned the lease.

New Member
Feb 11, 2020 7:40:33 PM

That is how I entered it in TurboTax - treated as if I sold it for $0. on last day used it (day lease terminated).  My question is, will TurboTax then essentially treat the remaining depreciation value as a current tax-year expense or do I need to do something else manually in TurboTax?

Expert Alumni
Feb 11, 2020 8:29:20 PM

TurboTax will then recognize the loss on the sale of the asset.