Investors & landlords
The improvements/remodel/renovations (flooring, painting, bathroom, windows etc) use the same designation as the home itself, Rental Real Estate Property. They receive the same 27.5 year recovery period as the residence.
The correct dates are date of purchase or acquired and then the date you began renting which is January 2020. Depreciation begins on the date you placed it in service for rent and not the date you acquired it. Currently, it is appropriate to enter the correct dates since it will correct the prior depreciation as it should. As far as your statement below you are correct. My advice would be to continue to use the 2020 starting date, however you need to track the depreciation used in the past for the Airbnb (accumulated total) as you will need this when you sell the residence in the future. This amount would be added to the total depreciation used on your returns in the year of sale. You didn't use full annual depreciation during those years.
- 'We did rent one room out using Airbnb starting in 2013, but it was on and off. So maybe this was the cost adjustment was for. And also, maybe that's why CPA started the depreciation in 2013 right away.'
Again, this will be a manual tracking piece for a future sale. Keep the information with each current year tax return and it can be a copy of the 2019 tax return which should have the total depreciation used prior to the full residence rental in 2020.
