Can I decrease the cost basis of my rental property?

[blpickeral]

Can I decrease the cost basis of my rental property? We no longer benefit from using the full cost basis of 240k with higher operating costs and only need 140k depreciation. Especially with the higher standard deduction, we would rather have a lower depreciation cost and add each years depreciation when paying taxes on the sale of the home in a few years from now.

[Anita01 · Accepted solution]

No, the cost basis cannot be adjusted downward for purposes of lowering depreciation.  If you have operating losses you can't use against current income, they're carried forward and you can deduct them all in the year of a fully taxable sale.