I do not want to depreciate Home Office or Rental. How do I opt out of the depreciation calculation?

[frankwardplg]

A previous tax preparer failed to report depreciation for my qualified Home Office.  How can I fix?

[MarilynG1]

You are not required to claim depreciation for your Home Office, as you may be required to recapture it when you sell your home.

However, if you do want to depreciate a Home Office, go through the Home Office Interview in the Business Expense section, where you will enter info about your home and depreciation expense will be calculated on Form 8829. 

You can Amend your returns up to the last three years to claim Home Office Depreciation. 

Here's more info on How to Enter a Home Office Deduction.

@frankwardplg 

[Carl]

What a home office, you can either depreciate it, or take the standard $5 per sq foot deduction up to a maximum of 300 sq ft. With the standard deduction for that, you're not required to recapture it. So check that, as it's most likely the former CPA opted for the $5/sq foot deduction on that home office.

Rental real estate property is a different story. You definitely want to depreciate it. That's because when you sell the property you are required to recapture the depreciation taken or the depreciation you should have taken, whichever is higher, and pay taxes on it in the tax year of the sale.

[Mike9241]

 this is from IRS PUB 587 business use of home

Depreciation
If you were entitled to deduct depreciation on the part of
your home used for business, you cannot exclude the part
of the gain equal to any depreciation you deducted (or
could have deducted) for periods after May 6, 1997. This
means that when figuring the amount of gain you can exclude, you must reduce the total gain by any depreciation
allowed or allowable on the part of your home used for
business after May 6, 1997.
If you can show by adequate records or other evidence
that the depreciation you actually deducted (the allowed
depreciation) was less than the amount you were entitled
to deduct (the allowable depreciation), the amount you
cannot exclude (and must subtract from your total gain
when figuring your exclusion) is the amount you actually
deducted.
You do not have to reduce the gain by any depreciation
you deducted (or could have deducted) for a separate
structure for which you cannot exclude the allocable portion of the gain

So this is contrary to what tax expert posted. it's saying if you don't take depreciation when you sell you still have to recapture it. Perhaps tax expert can cite the source for their statement.  the tax laws say that if you have depreciable business items you must depreciate them. if you don't, when they are sold, to figure gain /loss you have to take into account the larger of depreciation allowed or that is allowable under the tax laws.