The "For Rent" sign was up on November 15, 2021.
That means your "in service" date is Nov 15, 2021.
I understand that I cannot claim utilities in 2021.
Not "quite" true. You can (and should) "claim" the utilities on SCH E. But since you have zero days rented I don't know for a fact if the expense or pro-rated portion will be "allowed". But you can still claim them.
I spent a bunch of money in August - October, 2021 on new appliances, kitchen remodel, paint and refinishing the floors. These expenses I can deduct, right (following depreciation rules) ?
No, it's not a direct deduction "per-se". What you have described is a property improvement. The cost of that property improvement adds to your cost basis of the structure only. Since all of this was done "before" the property was available for rent, you do not need to enter it as a separate asset in the assets/depreciation section. Just add the cost of those improvements to your total in the COST box on the screen where you enter COST and COST OF LAND. The amount in the COST box is increased by the cost of your property improvements. The amount in the COST OF LAND box will not change, since you made no improvements directly to the land itself.
Finally, be aware that the IRS has pulled IRS publication 946-How to Depreciation Property, from their website for revision. So After you get everything entered, please see a copy of it at https://woodacctservices.com/publications/IRS%20How%20To%20Depreciate%20Property%20Pub%20946.pdf.
Use the worksheet on page 41 of that document and table A-6 on page 74 to manually figure your depreciation amount for 2021. (The math does not, and will not change for 2021, so since this is the only worksheet I can find right now, it will do just fine.)
My bet is, the depreciation amount you figure manually will be quite a bit off from what the program figures. If so, then let me know and I'll talk you through getting it right in the program so you can still e-file.
When dealing with rental property, absolute perfection in that first year is not an option; it's a must. Even the tiniest of mistakes will grow exponentially over time. Then when that error is caught years down the road, the cost of fixing it will not be cheap.
