As stated earlier, Depreciation is calculated on Form 4562 and is part of your tax return.
If you use TurboTax year after year and report your rental, the program records the depreciation you take each year and your Form 4562 would be accurate.
There are several methods to depreciate, and there is also Bonus Depreciation and the Section 179 Deduction that increase the amount you expense and depreciate.
When you sell a business asset, you often need to Recapture Depreciation or "pay it back"
With a rental, there is usually Depreciation Recapture which is Ordinary income and the profit which is capital gains.
The idea behind depreciation is that you are taking a little every year of something that will wear-out and become worthless. Real estate often increases in value, so there can be quite a large adjustment when the rental is sold.
Additionally, you are not allowed to just 'NOT TAKE" depreciation so that you don't have to recapture it when you sell it.
If you don't take it year after year, the IRS will still treat you as if you had.
If you didn't use TurboTax year after year and you don't have good records of what you claimed on the rental, the only thing TurboTax can do is make an honest estimate.
TurboTax will calculate the depreciation using the most standard method for that asset.
Would that result in the maximum?
No, actually the program does not add in Bonus Depreciation nor Section 179 Deductions unless you tell it to , so I would assume the depreciation the TurboTax program would estimate you took would be a very conservative amount.
@clark5584
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