I have 7 properties. Can I put all the auto expense under one property, and put 0 as auto expense for other properties?

[Carl]

Even though the bottom line result would be the same if you did that, I do not recommend it. While you can "get away" with it with two rentals, and possibly three, chances are good it will raise flags with 7 rentals and you're only claiming vehicle expenses on one. Generally though for most claiming vehicle expenses on a rental property has ZERO impact on your tax liability. When claiming one vehicle across multiple properties it creates an absolute tax paperwork nightmare when you sell, trade or otherwise dispose of the vehicle too. I myself have three rentals and don't waste my time with vehicle expenses since it has absolutely not one single penny of impact on my tax liability. However, upon deposition of the vehicle, having to figure and recapture all that depreciation would increase my tax liability in the year of disposition. Additionally, since the per-mile deduction changes each year, so does the part of that deduction that is for depreciation. It's a nightmare doing to the recapture.

[LLL2010]

Hi Carl, Thanks a lot for your valuable suggestion! I will not put them in one rental, but I will still put the auto expense in. The reason I was thinking of putting it on one is that the TT Delux version has a bug when I put the property tax portion of the car registration in. It calculated the non-business portion of the Property Tax in the wrong way. I wish TT can correct this bug, I do not even know how to report the bug. Thanks again! --Li