Federal Asset Report - Depreciated Assets

[grids]

This is my first year using TT. Last years tax returns federal asset report lists 23 depreciated assets where all but one show a current value of zero. Do I need to list in TurboTax all 23 of these assets that appear to me to be fully depreciated at this point? This business is 22 years old, it seems like this asset list is... out of date? I'm starting my tax prep fresh with TT, do I need to carry these old depreciated items with me? 

[AbbyS]

Yes, you should carry the old assets into your current return.  I assume these assets were simply retired (not sold) since they are many years old.  If that’s the case, simply mark the assets as “retired or disposed” so that they will be removed from your asset list in future years, and put the sale price as $0.  The option to mark the asset as “retired or disposed” will come up as a check box when inputting your assets into TurboTax.  Doing this, will show that the asset was simply disposed without being sold, instead of just disappearing from your asset list from one year to the next without explanation of whether the asset was sold at a gain, and you can continue with a clean asset list moving forward.

[grids]

Thank you Abby! As a follow-up, some of my previous accountants listed my assets as "2008 equipment" for example. I have NO idea what that refers to. Also, being 2008, we didn't keep pdf receipts or anything digital. I believe also all of our paper files have been shredded for more than 7 years back. I may have the final tax return still only. If I don't know what this equipment is, what should I do about it being listed as an asset? I'm starting new with Turbo Tax and would like to "clean up" our accounts a bit as it seemed to me prior accountants did things like this which strike me as messy.

[AbbyS]

If you no longer have possession of these old assets, my advice would stay the same.  Carry all your assets (even with their vague description) into your current tax return and mark them as disposed.  Going forward, TurboTax will eliminate those assets from your asset list for future years.

However, if some of those old assets are still in use, I would say to just take your best guess as to which listed asset relates to the assets that you have in your possession based on the year placed in service and basis.  If you choose to do this, you can include a more detailed description in your list when inputting into TurboTax such as “2008 equipment (Forklift).” Ultimately, since these old assets are all fully depreciated, they shouldn’t affect your tax return in the future unless you sell them (in which case you would have to claim a gain for the sale of the asset).