How can I enter the new vehicle in Turbo Tax as business vehicle to claim the section 179 deduction? I entered one of vehicles in asset section in 2023 because of this.

[xiuqin1230]

I don't want to enter my business vehicle in asset section. But when I entered it as business vehicle, Turbo tax did not give any option to claim either 179 or any deprecation. The same issue happened back in 2022. I had to enter the other vehicle as an asset in 2022 to work around this, then in 2023, when I claimed the vehicle expenses, I had to manually delete the deprecation vehicle section since it is recorded in business asset. Just wanted to know if there is a way, I can just enter the vehicle in vehicle section and claim depreciation when the vehicle is new. Thanks. I use actual expense method.

[MindyB]

When you enter the vehicle, you will be able to indicate how much Section 179 expense you'd like to take.

Here are the steps in TurboTax Online:

1. Navigate to Federal > Wages & Income > Self-employment income and expenses
2. Edit your business 
3. Choose add expenses for this work
4. Choose Vehicle and Continue
5. Vehicle now appears in the list of expenses, choose the pencil icon to the right of vehicle expenses
6. Answer the interview questions about the vehicle, and enter the related expenses.
7. Continue through interview, answering the date you bought the vehicle in 2024.  You will come to a screen How much do you want to deduct for the business use of this vehicle? where you can claim Section 179 expense.

[xiuqin1230]

Hi MindyB,

Thanks for the reply. 

I am using Turbo tax desktop version. The page you showed me is not in desktop version for business section. 

Do you know how I can work around this? 

Thanks,

qiong

[xiuqin1230]

NVM. I figured it out. The data of service was in December.

Thanks,

[major362000]

I am not seeing anywhere where it is asking my to enter the amount for section 179 purposes. I am using turbotax online. 

[xiuqin1230]

It is business vehicle for business purposes. if you did not purchase business vehicle, then you will not be asked to enter this information.

[xiuqin1230]

or business assets.

[xiuqin1230]

Good morning,

did the date placed service matter for how much section 179 deduction I can take? do I have to prorate the total amount of section 179 deduction? I bought and placed my vehicle on 12/31/2024. will this date affect my depreciation deduction? also the desktop did not show the Section 179 deduction, only a special allowance when I used an earlier date for purchase and service for my vehicle to test.  The Screen shot you sent was never popped up. this is all I got.

Thanks,

[Vanessa A]

No.  As long as you make the purchase on or before December 31, you can take the section 179 deduction.  On the screen asking about the special depreciation, it also says the Section 179...it is just using two different terms for the same thing.

If you went through  one time, you will frequently not have the exact same question, so if you cannot get back to the original questions, you can delete that vehicle and re-enter it, making sure that you select yes the first time.

If you are using the desktop version (which means you downloaded it and installed it on your computer, that you are not logging in to your return) you can switch to forms mode and enter directly on the form itself for the care and truck expenses worksheet.   Your screenshot, does appear to be the online version and not the desktop version.  If so, your questions will be slightly different than the desktop versions but the special allowance is the same thing as the section 179 for this purpose.