(Why can't TurboTax provide a safeguard for this situation?
Keep in mind I'm just another user like you. I don't work for Intuit. But they do let the user know what's going to happen. At least in the desktop version. When you select the checkbox for "I did not rent or attempt to rent..." additional text immediately appears below that checkbox clearly informing the user "Since this property was not a rental at all in 2021 you should delete it as a rental. Make sure to keep your complete return, including the depreciation report for this property from 2020........" Then when/if you click the Continue button, it's gone. Permanently.
I need to find a way to recover the information for that Sched E without starting all over again!
There's only two possibilities here, and #1 is time consuming with an extremely high probability of human error.
1) From the 2020 tax return, print out the two 4562's that print in landscape format, along with the IRS Form 8582-Passive Activity Loss L Imitations, if that form is present in the 2020 return. You need the information to reenter all the prior year's depreciation and passive loss carry overs. To get the correct prior year depreciation for the 2021 return, you have to add together the amounts on the 2020 4562 in the prior year's depr column, and current year depr column. The total is the correct prior year's depreciation to enter on the 2021 tax return. Make sure you re-enter all assets for the property "exactly" as they appear on the 2020 form 4562. Dates and convensions must match "exactly". Perfection is not an option. it's a must. Of course, there is aq high probability of human error this way.
2) Clear the return and start over. It will probably be faster than having to go through all that stuff with option #1 above.
