Gardening cost on rental property

[andreasbrinck]

We had to replace a hedge in the garden of our rental property, can we deduct this as "Repairs" in the rental property info section?

[ColeenD3]

No, since you replaced and entire hedge, it is a land improvement and must be depreciated. The general depreciation system assigns a 15-year recovery period to land improvements.

However, there are two safe harbor elections for this. 1) covers companies with no financial reports that can make an election to deduct up to $2500 PER pretty much invoice item; 2) small harbor for small businesses. That one is allows to deduct rather than capitalize either 2% of the unadjusted basis or $10K - whichever is less. TT allows both of those elections to be made

@ andreasbrinck

[Edited 3/3/21|11:17AM EST]

[Hal_Al]

Yes, if the cost was less than $2500.

[andreasbrinck · Accepted solution]

Thank you, it seems like there is a an option (new for this year?), to claim these as expenses instead of assets? From TurboTax:

"This election is an option you can take each year that lets you write off some building improvements as expenses instead of assets. Expenses typically reduce your income by a larger amount than depreciating an asset over multiple years does. This means you could get a bigger refund."

Would this apply to our new hedge?