A few more thoughts on a 50% rental property ownership for depreciation calculations. I've done this both ways.
1. I entered all income/expenses at 100% and had TurboTax split that 50% which it will do if you tell it to. I then entered all the assets at 50% of their costs and had TurboTax calculate the depreciation. This works.
and
2. I entered all income/expenses at 100%, DID NOT have TurboTax split it. Then I entered all the assets at 100% of their costs and had TurboTax calculate the depreciation. This gave me an answer as if I was the sole owner.
Because I'm actually a 50% owner I then overrode my Schedule E Worksheet Line 22 (Deductible rental real estate loss) by 50%. This changed Line 25 (Losses) on Schedule E and resulted in Line 26 (Total rental real estate and royalty income or (loss)) of Schedule E results in the correct figure for this return. This in turn had my 1040 Line 8 resulting in the correct number. This gave me the correct result for a 50% owner.
Number 2 might seem long winded but only required one change, and I didn't have to recalculate all my assets costs or double check the depreciation tables.
Unfortunately I can't efile number 2 with the IRS because of the red exclamation mark. It sure would be nice if I could since everything is entered in the actual figures. There must be a reason it's not done this way, I just don't know what it is. I also don't know why the software the pros use can do this but TurboTax doesn't.
Just thinking out loud here.
