My net property tax is arount $5000 (after subtract the interests and property tax). Can I just depreciate exact $5000 instead of the one turbotax calculated for me?

[CaronM]

Are you talking about a rental property or your home? Are these taxes you've paid?

[zhiqi]

I am talking about my rental property. the net rental income is around $5000 after subtract the property tax and mortgage. I just want to do $5000 depreciation on my rental home, but turbotax automatically calculated for me is $16000. Can I lower this depreciation value?

[Anita01]

Income has nothing to do with depreciation.  Depreciation is based on your cost, meaning what you paid for the  property and when it was first available for rent, so no, you can't depreciate income.

[zhiqi]

I don't want to depreciate the income. what I mean is the I don't want my home depreciate so much. I just want it depreciate $5000 per year instead of $16000 per year. If my home depreciate $16000, when I sell it, I need to pay more capital gain than it depreciate $5000, right?

[Anita01]

You can't limit the amount of depreciation, it's based on the things I mentioned before.  When you sell, you pay tax on  the amount of depreciation you took or COULD HAVE TAKEN and that amount is taxed as ordinary income, not capital gains.  However, not taking depreciation you're entitled to does not save you a penny when you sell.

[zhiqi]

Thank you very much!!! you resolved my problem. So you mean no matter I depreciate my rental home or not, when I sell the rental home, I still need to pay the tax for the depreciation value it SHOULD BE. For example, if I will sell my rental home now, I have to pay the tax for:  Selling price - (the money I paid for the home-depreciation value each year * years) . Even though I didn't claim a penny of depreciation.

[CaronM]

Yes, that is correct. If you didn't claim depreciation you should have in prior years, you can file form 3115 with your return to claim it.