A new roof on a rental property is classified as "Residential Rental Real Estate" Period. It gets depreciated over 27.5 years.
You enter your new roof in the assets/depreciation section of the program. In the COST box you enter what you paid for that new roof. In the "COST OF LAND" box, you enter the digit ZERO, since this is not a land improvement any way you look at it.
If offered the Special Depreciation Allowance (SDA) I highly recommend you NOT take it, but instead elect to depreciate it over the next 27.5 years. Taking the SDA will more than likely not reduce your tax liability one single penny - especially if you have a mortgage on the property. Besides, when you sell or otherwise dispose of the property, you are required to recapture that depreciation and pay taxes on that depreciation in the tax year you sell and recapture the depreciation. Recaptured depreciation increases your AGI for that tax year, and can have the potential to bump you into the next higher tax bracket.
What benefits you now, can hurt you 10 times over, later.
