On the what did I pay portion of the business vehicle section. Is that the amount that was financed, or total amount before the trade in and down payment was subtracted?

[robbiehapner]

Also, would I include any maintenance plans if there were financed, or would I save those for business expenses?

[TaxGuyBill]

Is this for a vehicle that you bought in 2018, and you are entering it for your business expenses for 2018?

Or is this a vehicle that you SOLD in 2018, and had bought in a previous year and used it previously for business?

[robbiehapner]

Yes, I bought a new vehicle in 2018 and traded in a vehicle to purchase.

[TaxGuyBill]

Are you reporting the sale of the old vehicle, or are you trying to report the expenses for the new vehicle?

[robbiehapner]

I am trying to report the the expenses of the new vehicle. There was a field it asked for Total cash and/or loan amount paid with the trade-in I figured that as whatever was left after the trade and cash down. The next field it asked What did I pay for the vehicle. I am just trying to figure out if that is the total cost with finance, trade in, and down payment, or just the finance cost after the trade in and down payment were subtracted.

[TaxGuyBill]

It is the total cost (before any trade-in allowance or down payment).

The maintenance plan would be amortized over the life of the plan, but that can only be done *IF* you are using the Actual Expense method (rather than the Standard Mileage Rate).

[robbiehapner]

Great. Thank you.
I claim actual expenses. If the maintenance plan was financed do I claim that as part of the total amount? Of use the maintenance plan as a separate business expense?  

[TaxGuyBill]

You amortize the total amount over the life of the plan.  It does not matter if it is financed or not.

I don't think TurboTax has the option to do that within the vehicle section, so you will need to enter it separately under the depreciation section, or manually enter the yearly amount as a vehicle Repair&Maintenance.

To manually calculate the amortization you take the total cost and divide it by the number of months that the plan covers.  For example, if it cost $600 and it was good for 60 months (5 years), you deduct $10 per month as a Repair/Maintenance.

[robbiehapner]

Excellent. I appreciate your response. Makes sense and help me out a lot. Thank you.

[SweetieJean]

You are asking from TT Live, for which you are paying extra:

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/4124827-how-do-i-connect-with-a-tax-expert-in-turbotax-live

Live help is available M-F during business hours.

[robbiehapner]

I spoke with someone today and he didn't seem to know what I was talking about.