topic Business Vehicle Expense - do not take depreciation, only actual expenses in Deductions & credits

Business Vehicle Expense - do not take depreciation, only actual expenses

tarltonm — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 04:41:50 GMT

I use my car for business 100% of the time. I want to write off my expenses (gas, insurance, registration, etc)...but I do NOT want to take the depreciation. In Turbo Tax, I can't find a way to NOT take the depreciation. Even with I go to the actual forms, I can't figure out how to only take expenses and NOT depreciate the car using Turbo Tax. The fields I would need to make "0" are not editable.

Any help would be greatly appreciated it.

Re: Business Vehicle Expense - do not take depreciation, only actual expenses

PatriciaV — Sun, 04 Feb 2024 16:17:46 GMT

To avoid including depreciation in the vehicle expense calculation, enter a zero value for the fair market value of the vehicle on the date you first started using it for your business. There is no depreciation calculated on a vehicle with zero value. But you'll still be able to claim your actual expenses.

Re: Business Vehicle Expense - do not take depreciation, only actual expenses

Tom Mason — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:08:33 GMT

There is no fair market value button on the form

Re: Business Vehicle Expense - do not take depreciation, only actual expenses

BrittanyS — Thu, 20 Feb 2025 14:49:42 GMT

When you entered to use your actual expenses, you will come to a screen that states, "Let's figure out the value of your vehicle". You can enter $0 at this screen. (See Screenshot below)

Re: Business Vehicle Expense - do not take depreciation, only actual expenses

jlutzdsc — Tue, 25 Feb 2025 15:31:24 GMT

Putting zero car value for car and taking off end of year, the system is creating a 4797. How do I avoid this?

Re: Business Vehicle Expense - do not take depreciation, only actual expenses

RobertB4444 — Tue, 25 Feb 2025 16:10:22 GMT

Form 4797 just shows the sale of business property. If it is a zero then the form shouldn't be adding anything to your taxes, just reporting the sale. That should be fine.

@jlutzdsc