Does Turbotax calculate the cost basis of my rental properties?

[mmakoul]

How do I determine accumulated depreciation without going back through several years of prior returns?

[Anonymous]

if you properly entered the depreciation info when acquired there is a section under each asset entry worksheet with the depreciation history 

[mmakoul]

Thanks. But I can’t find it in the Forms or workshheets associated with my 2019 return. Is there a particular Form number where I would find this or somewhere else in TurboTax?

[DoninGA · Accepted solution]

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@mmakoul wrote:

Thanks. But I can’t find it in the Forms or workshheets associated with my 2019 return. Is there a particular Form number where I would find this or somewhere else in TurboTax?

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If you are still entering the income and expenses on Schedule E for your rental property, there will be a Depreciation and Amortization Report included with the tax return.

Using the online editions you would need to download the PDF of the return from Print Center and the option for all worksheets.

To access your current or prior year online tax returns sign onto the TurboTax website with the userID you used to create the account - https://myturbotax.intuit.com/

When you sign onto your online account and land on the Tax Home web page, scroll down and click on Add a state. 

This will take you back to the 2019 online tax return.

Click on Tax Tools on the left side of the online program screen.  Then click on Print Center.  Then click on Print, save or preview this year's return.  Choose the option Include government and TurboTax worksheets

Here is an example of the report from a prior tax year when I had a rental property - 

[Carl]

Cost basis of rental property is based on the numbers you personally entered when you first entered the property into the program the first year you started using the program if you acquired the rental property before you started using TurboTax, or in the tax year you acquired the property if you were using TurboTax in that year of property acquisition.

Cost basis and depreciation is shown on IRS Form 4562. There are two of those forms each tax year and both print in landscape format. One is titled "Depreciation and Amortization Report" and for most is the primary one used. The other is titled "Alternative Minimum Tax Depreciation" and is used by the program only if AMT taxes apply to your specific situation, which is not all that common.

The IRS Form 4562 is not actually filed with the tax return each year, unless certain conditions are met. For example, in the first year of use it will be filed with the tax return, and from that point on it's filed "ONLY" if something changes, such as selling/disposing of an asset, adding an asset, removing an asset, etc.  However, the program will produce the 4562 every single year weather it's actually filed or not. To get it so you can print it, you will need to save the return in PDF format electing to save everying, and not just the forms required for filing or forms required for your records. After saving everything in PDF format, you can open that PDF file with any PDF reader program, locate the 4562's you need to print and print them.

With the online version of TurboTax everything will be saved to a PDF file automatically "for you" by Oct 15th of each year. Simply log into your account, download the PDF and open it.

With the CD/Desktop version of TurboTax, you are the one who has to take physical action to save your tax return as a PDF to your computer. This is done under the FILE tab. (the file ***TAB*** not the file *menubar* pulldown. )

[Anonymous]

don't know if forms mode is available.  if it is then under each rental property worksheet you should see a link to Asset Entry Worksheets. There is one for each asset you entered. when you zoom to the A.E.W.  in about the middle of the worksheet (line 15) there should be a link to Asset Life History. that's where you should find complete details for the depreciation