Can some improvements and costs for a renting part of a house be deducted or depreciated 100% while others are by square footage percentage?

[amanda2]

I rent out my converted garage.  I understand the concept of deducting an apportioned amount based on square footage (it's about 21% of my total square footage), but I've also read if you make a repair or improvement that is directly related to the rented room/part of the house, you can deduct or depreciate that cost 100%. Is that true? Example 1: I built a porch off the converted garage that is specifically for my renter's use. Example 2: I fixed a leaky toilet in the rental space. 
As a corollary, and depending on the answer to the above, I purchased and installed a new swamp cooler for the house but the vents do not extend to the converted garage. It seems like I shouldn't be able to deduct that since the renter doesn't benefit from it, right?  Or can I deduct or depreciate any repairs or improvements to the house at the 21% rate?

[DianeW · Accepted solution]

Yes, you can deduct 100% of the repairs or improvements that are specifically for rental purposes with no personal use. Improvements such as the porch are subject to depreciation and must be listed as an asset using the same 27.5 year recovery for residential rental.

The swamp cooler that is not used by the tenants at all should not be deducted as part of the rental. Any improvements to the entire garage or to the entire property that does include the rental can be depreciated at the 21% rate.

[amanda2]

Thank you! Now if I can only figure out how to add those into Turbo Tax correctly...

[DianeW]

@amanda You're welcome.  You an add those by going to the rental activity (search for rentals, the use the "Jump to" link > Edit > Select "Assets/Depreciation".

[amanda2]

@TurboTaxDianeW - Thanks again. I've added improvements successfully.  If I want to deduct 100% of some repairs, then does that mean I need to select the option to do the calculations myself for the rental percentage? (As opposed to the option where Turbo Tax does it for me....there's no way to choose the automatic option for most things but have a couple that I write in at 100%, right?)

[DianeW]

@amanda I would suggest doing your own calculations because then you can put the actual expenses for each time that if fully rental portion or 100% rental.

[test1account1]

What method is 21% rate?

[DianeW777]

The 21% mentioned references the percentage of business use of the home office. It's usually best to start a new question instead of a possible out dated answer.

@test1account1