You personally don't figure anything. The convention used in that first year is based on the in-service date of the property or asset. The program takes care of that automatically and it does so correctly.

TurboTax calculates $0 for depreciation,

That's probably because you indicated you have personal days used greater than zero, when days of personal use should be ZERO. Additionally, business use percentage would be 100% (one hundred percent) with zero days of personal use.

This is what my accountant wrote to me (he had been doing my taxes for years).  

"Your rental was set up with a 31.5 year straight-line recovery period using the mid-month MACRS method.  Your software should have these options.  2019 is year 30, and the depreciation expense for 2019 should be $1541 (48,532/31.5).  Depreciation deducted in prior years (1990-2018) was $44,103."

However, I can't find out how to do that in TurboTax.  I have ALWAYS had it rented.  I have never used it personally -- bought it for rental.

I found where I enter the amount I have depreciated in prior years, but when I entered the correct amount, it still tells me that I get $0 depreciation, and that I only have 27.5 years to fully depreciate.  It shows this:

Years to fully depreciate             27.5 years

MACRS Convention                     MM

Depreciation Method                  SL

Cost Basis                                       $53,900

Cost of Land                                   $5,368

Date started using                         09/10/1990

Business use                                   100%

Section 179 deduction                   $0

Help!