topic Self-employed: Prior year depreciaton for automobile in Deductions & credits

Self-employed: Prior year depreciaton for automobile

squidlady — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 05:28:46 GMT

I've been using TT Home and Biz for umpteen years now. I am self employed and working on the deduction for my 2019 car (which I do use for my business). This year I had to put all the info on the car from scratch (dig out the paperwork) which is one problem - why did it not carry through from previous years?

I am also stuck on prior year depreciation for this car. Since TT isn't importing it (along with all the other info it did import) where do I find this on last year's return? I've been looking at the return itself and found Form 3885A, Form 4562, as well as line 28 on last year's 1099. Does one of these items contain my prior year depreciation?

Also, if I switch from using Actual Expenses one year, to the Standard Mileage Rate the next (or vice versa) does this cause a problem of any kind? A red flag?

Please let me know if you need more info from me to answer these questions, thank you in advance.

Re: Self-employed: Prior year depreciaton for automobile

PatriciaV — Sun, 20 Feb 2022 19:07:58 GMT

If you used TurboTax last year, look for the Depreciation and Amortization Report, which shows both current and prior depreciation. From this report, add the Prior and Current Depreciation amounts to calculate the total depreciation taken on this vehicle since you started using it for business.

The Car and Truck Expenses Worksheet will show if you used the Standard Mileage Rate last year. Look for a box checked in Part IV of that worksheet.

If you want to use the standard mileage rate to calculate vehicle expenses, you must choose it in the first year you use the car for business. In later years you can choose to use the standard mileage rate or switch to actual expenses.

Once you use actual expenses for the vehicle (even if it's the first year you used it for business), you can't switch to standard mileage rate. You must continue using actual expenses as long as you use that car for business.

Re: Self-employed: Prior year depreciaton for automobile

squidlady — Sun, 20 Feb 2022 19:43:10 GMT

Thank you for your detailed reply. I'll have a look and see if I have any more questions. Thank you!