Investors & landlords

So glad you both used the CD version for 2018. That makes things a "whole" lot easier and simpler for both of us.

We both filed as single in 2018. Together we have 100% ownership of all of the properties and have been reporting income and expenses on our respective SCH E forms as 50% each.

No, you don't report 50% ownership each, as a separate declaration. That's going around your elbow to get to your thumb.

Pick one of your 2018 tax returns to import from. Let's say it's your tax return.

You will first use TurboTax 2018 to open your wife's 2018 tax return.

In TurboTax 2018 select the FILE tab, and under that tab select "Print/Save For Your Records"

Click the "Save a PDF" button.  Then select "Tax Return, All Calculation Worksheets" and select the button to "Save as PDF".

Take note of the filename and the location where the PDF will be saved, and save it.

Now completely exit TurboTax 2018 and open the PDF file you just saved.

With the PDF open, search for "4562" (use CNTL-F to open the PDF search box.)

You are searching for all IRS Form 4562's associated with the rental property she owns. There will be two 4562's for each property she owns. One is titled "Depreciation and Amortization Report" and the other is titled " Alternative Minimum Tax Depreciation Report".

Print both of these forms for each rental property. You will definitely need the first one I mentioned, and "may" need the 2nd one also. Note that each form has the label assigned to each property in the upper left corner of the form, right below words "Form 4562".

Next, search for and print the IRS Form 8582 - Passive Activity Loss Limitations. Print it if found. If the 8582 is not there, that's fine. That just means she has no carry forward losses is all.

Once everything is printed, you're done with TurboTax 2018 and the PDF file. You can close everything out.

Now fire up TurboTax 2019 and start a new return. You will import from "YOUR" .tax2018 file. (You already printed what you need from your wife's 2018 taxes.)

Of course, you'll be changing your filing status from single to MFJ and entering your wife's data, along with anything else that pertains to your new "married filing joint" status under the Personal Info tab.

When you get to the rental stuff, go ahead and work your properties through as you normally would, reporting all your rental income/expenses and the what-not. When done, you'll be returned to the Rental Summary Screen.

On that screen select the button at the bottom for "Add Another Rental or Royalty" and begin entering the data for your wife's rental property. Perfection here is a must so here's a few of the details that matter.

Basically, the data you enter concerning her rentals must match "exactly" what is on the 4562 for that property, with one exception.

When asked for "prior year's depreciation already taken" take a look at the 2018 form 4562 titled "Depreciation and Amortization Report". Now on that 2018 form add together the amounts in the "prior years depr" column and the "current year depr" column. You will enter that total in the TTX 2019 program where it asks for prior year's depr already taken.

It would be smart to enter all assets "EXACTLY" as they are listed on her 4562 for that property.

Now absolute perfection in this is not an option...it's a "must". So if something doesn't "look right" or "seem right", it's probably not right. Just let me know.

Assuming her property has been rented since "at least" 2017, I would expect the depreciation for 2019 to be within a few bucks of what was taken in 2018. It won't be exact, I know. But if it is exact, all the much better.

When asked for any carry over losses, those will be on the IRS Form 8582 if you got one from her 2018 tax return.

I'll stop here, because I want to do my best to avoid "information overload" on your end. So work it through and if questions arise, please ask.

Finally, note that you can expect to have to "start over" a few times too. It's just part of the learning process. You don't learn anything by getting it perfect the first time. Most of what you learn is what "not" to do... and you don't learn it by not doing it either. So if/when you need to start over, simply close the TurboTax 2019 program then delete the .tax2019 (not the .tax2018) file in the documents/turbotax directory. Then when you fire up the TTX 2019 program again, it's "as if" you just installed it and are starting your tax return for the first time.