It depends -
No - If you made these major repairs and improvements prior to the house being available to rent then you will only be able to include the cost of capital improvements to the cost basis in the rental house. This will increase the depreciable basis in the house so your depreciation expense will be higher. The IRS would consider the repair costs to be nondeductible personal expenses.
Yes - If you made these major repairs and improvements after the house was available for rent (whether or not actually rented), you will be able to expense and repairs. For capital improvements, you would include these as assets (capital improvements) and you would be able to take depreciation on them over the life of the asset.
A "capital
improvement" to your home, meaning the improvement must increase your
home's value, adapt it to new uses, or extend its life. Examples of capital
improvements are: adding a third bedroom, adding a garage, installing
insulation/carpeting, landscaping and more.
To enter rental information in TurboTax, log
into your tax return (for TurboTax Online sign-in, click Here and click on "Take me to my
return") type "rental income and expenses" in the search bar
then select "jump to rental income and expenses". TurboTax will guide
you in entering this information.
