Hi Carl, I've refinance my rental property with same lender on 2020,
Then you can not deduct the remaining amortized fees on the old loan, on your 2020 taxes.
the old refinance fee didn't automatically add to my new loan.
They really don't need to. Assuming the asset transferred from the 2019 return to the 2020 return, you can just leave that asset "as is" and it will continue to be deducted over the life of the original, now paid off loan.
can I add it to my 2021 return manually?
If you elect, you can add them to your new financing fees on the new loan. But then you have to delete the amortization entry for those fees on the old loan from the assets/depreciation section.
which category do I put the old fee?
what remains of your old refinancing fees don't go in a "category" per-se in your specific case, since you refinanced with the same lender. There shoud already be an entry in the assets/depreciation section for those fees (as well as the fees on the new loan) and are specifically classified as financing fees so that they are deducted over the life of the loan, and not depreciated. Remember, depreciated assets are recaptured and taxed as some point, where are amortized assets are deducted over time with that deduction being permanent and forever.
To specify, (which is something the IRS pubs do not do very well) tangible assets (such as the property itself) are depreciated over time. Whenever you sell the property and it's assets, that depreciation is recaptured and taxed in the year of sale.
Your intangible assets (which is what refinancing fees are) are amortized and deducted over time, as apposed to being depreciated over time. In the tax year you sell the property any remaining amortized costs are fully deductible in the year of sale. There's other situations where they're fully deductible too, such as if you refinance the property with a different lender.
Since you refinanced with the same lender, your remaining amortized costs on the old loan are not fully deductible in the year of refinance. You can either:
1) Add them to your refi costs of the new loan and that new total gets deducted over the life of that new loan, or;
2) Leave the original entry for those amortized costs on the old loan and they will continue to be deducted over the original lifespan of that old loan.
