Rental expense deductions

[JuliaHM]

I rent 30% of my home year long and chose to allow TurboTax to calculate correct rental expense deductions for me. This is great for actual shared expenses like utilities and lawn maintenance. However, some expenses (like a new refrigerator for the rental portion of the house and cleaning services for the rental portion) are SOLELY an expense related to the rental. Is there a way to deduct 100% of those expenses while still apportioning 30% of other expenses? I can’t see how to do this.

[RobertB4444 · Accepted solution]

TurboTax has classified the expenses in the rental section as ones that would be fully deductible (advertising) and ones that should be prorated (real estate taxes).  When you enter your expenses TurboTax classifies them for you.

@JuliaHM 

[JuliaHM]

I can’t find anything that says this is the case, but it sounds reasonable - thank you - I will trust that the turboTax software is doing what it knows best. There is a really big tax learning curve when you start a rental business, even a tiny one.

[PaulaM]

You can elect to do the math yourself and then allocate 30% of the shared costs to the rented portion and 100% of the rental only items. Indicate 'No, I'll do the math and enter only the rental-related portion', instead of TurboTax calculating for you.