Did you use the vehicle 100% for business?
If not, the program may not be able to calculate the gain or loss.
Your basis for the newer vehicle will be the basis of the trade-in plus cash you paid.
"If you got this vehicle by trading in listed property that you used less than 100% of the time for business, enter your gain or loss basis."
Since you traded in a vehicle that was not used 100% business, enter the trade-in value you received in relation to the percentage used for business. You also need to adjust for depreciation.
SO, if the older vehicle was 20,000 new, you took 8,000 depreciation and used it 80%, the basis for that older vehicle would be 9,600. (20,000 - 8,000 =12,000 12,000 x .80 = 9,600)
If you paid 14,571 with the trade in for the new vehicle, the basis for the newer vehicle would be 24,171. (9,600 + 14,571).
It doesn't matter if the new vehicle had a sticker price of 50,000 and you got 35,429 for the trade-in, the basis for the trade-in is not what you received as a trade-in value.
Remember that you "deferred" the depreciation on the old vehicle by putting it on the newer vehicle, so you may end up with a Capital Gain or Depreciation Recapture because of the sale of the newer vehicle.
Basis for AMT would be the same as regular basis unless you were subject to AMT any tax year and your depreciation deduction was limited for that tax year, (you should know if that ever happened)
For assets that depreciate, such as a business vehicle, the adjusted basis is the original basis less depreciation.
Lets say you purchase a truck for 30,000 and depreciate 20,000 over the years, so when you sell it has an adjusted basis of 10,000.
If you sell for over 10,000 but less than 30,000, it is depreciation recapture which is Ordinary Income.
If it becomes a classic and you sell for 35,000, you would have 20,000 depreciation recapture and 5,000 Capital Gain.
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