1. The first question is am I right that I don't have to recapture the "home" portion of the depreciation?
That portion of your home that was not ever rented out or used for any other business purpose, was never depreciated. Therefore, there is no "home" portion of depreciation to be recaptured.
2. The second question is... Do I recapture the gain on appliance depreciation?
If you sold the appliance, then yes. However, if you're talking about an old appliance you no longer have, that appliance shouldn't even be listed in your Assets/Depreciation section of your 2020 tax return *IF* and only if you took that appliance out of service "before" Jan 1, 2020.
To correctly take an asset out of service and junking it, without having to sell it or recapture the depreciation, work through that asset. Select YES on the screen for "I stopped using this asset in 2020". Then on the "Special Handling Required?" screen, select YES also. If you select NO on that screen, you are "forced" to enter sales information. So if you did not sell that appliance asset, select YES for speical handling required. That's all you need to do with that asset.
3. How do I account for depreciated appliances that are gone,
Just do exactly as I stated in my response to #2 above.
versus depreciated appliances that were sold with the house in the home or second floor apartment?
when working through those appliances in the assets/depreciation section, you will select NO on the "Special Handling Required?" screen. Then you'll enter your sales information for that appliance. The program will then take care of the depreciation recapture "for you".
Some appliances were listed as 179 depreciation back in 1996-1999.)
If the appliance as since been junked, my response to #2 above applies. Otherwise, select NO on the "Special Handling Required?" screen, enter your sales information, and the program takes care of depreciation recapture "for you".
My first husband died in Sept. 2009, So I stepped up the value of his half of the property and am still depreciating his half of the house. I am not planning to recapture his half of the depreciation from 1990 to Sept. 2009. (I am not in a community property state.)
4. Am I right that I just ignore his portion of the depreciation taken up to Sept. 2009?
You are correct. Your "step up" in basis in the year of his passing basically "cancelled out" his share of the depreciation. However, you "should" have been depreciating the stepped out amount, with depreciation starting on the date of his passing - which is the date you "stepped up" the basis. That depreciation "does" have to be recaptured.
