Depreciation for rental properties that did not have income because of damages of Hurricane Harvey

[tessie12]

I  have zero rental income because the house was devastated by Hurricane Harvey but I have maintenance expenses like lawn mowing, utility bills and other expenses.  Can I claim depreciation expense for rental property that does not have income? The house is still going repairs and not yet rentable.  Please let me know.

Thank you

[DavidD66]

Yes, you can continue to take depreciation and other expenses, as long as it is still a rental property.  The reason it was taken out of service is due to damages and the repair of those damages.  So even though there is no income, it is still a rental.

[tessie12]

Thanks, David.  I remember I asked last year and I was told you cannot take depreciation expense if you don't have income so I just want to verify that again.  I  was told to go to Casualty Loss and enter my expenses there. My other problem now is, I took off my depreciation so, I did not have depreciation expense in 2019. How do I put back my depreciation schedule back to Turbo Tax?  It might have been deleted last year.  OMG

[gloriah5200]

Why did you take the depreciation off in 2019?  It could be that you didn't need to remove it in 2019 and you may want to amend the 2019 return to put the depreciation back on it for that year.  If you are able to do that, then you can continue to use the same methods, amounts, placed in service dates as previously.

If you are able to amend the 2019 and not take it out of service as a rental, you will have to add it for 2020 as a new asset placed in service, but still using the original placed in service dates and information.