what can be count as expense for primary residence rental room?

[tututu]

i rent out 1 room for my primary residence house, can anyone help me to understand if below items i purchased count as rental related expense thus can be deducted under MISCELLANEOUS EXPENSE as their value under $2000 that no need to go depreciation?

1, front door smart lock (<$2000): need due to ease on tenant entry management 

2, bed provide for tenant (<$2000): provide furniture 

3, household supplier(<$2000): liquid detergent soap, toilet paper , etc. 

4, new washer and dryer (<$2000): purchased to better attract tenant but no separate laundry room in house means i also used it.  can this still be deductible? 

5, internet& WIFI: share with tenant, does it deductible?

6, homeowner insurance: purchased for my house as primary residence purpose, does it deductible for that one bedroom rental? 

also, for the item solely purchased for the tenant, like the bed, how i can enter it so turbo tax not propagate  automatically under MISCELLANEOUS EXPENSE ? should i deliberately increase its value so after turbotax propagation, it returns to purchase price? 

[ThomasM125]

You can enter the lock, bed and washer in the asset section and choose to take the $2,500 safe harbor election and then expense them. If you choose to have your expenses automatically allocated to rental use based on the rental use portion of the rental unit, you will have to gross up the cost to arrive at the correct deduction.

The internet and insurance can be deducted, but only the portion that applies to the rental unit.

The supplies are not fully deductible, so you may need to adjust the cost to arrive at the correct deduction in TurboTax.

[tututu]

thank you @ThomasM125  for your reply, for clarification, I am not see where said "safe harbor", i went to asset&depreciation section and "yes" to <$2500 item purchased to improve my bedroom rental, then it ask me if i used a consistent process how i record expense, i am not sure what it means, but since my item <$2500, so i answer Yes, finally it ask me to enter those amount in miscellaneous expenses. 

In expense, i think turbotax is automatically allocating portion of amount entered in miscellaneous expense? so for instance, if i enter the bed frame used for rental room exclusively, actual cost $100, it proportions to $30 with 30% rental percentage, but since it is used for rented room, should i deliberately enter it as $333, so it portions back to $100?  

thank you again for your help. 

[tututu]

thank you @ThomasM125  for your reply, for clarification, I am not see where said "safe harbor" election. actually i went to asset&depreciation section and "yes" to <$2500 item to improve my rental, then it ask me if i used a consistent process how i record expense, i am not sure what it means, but since my item <$2500, so i answer "Yes", finally it ask me to enter those amount in miscellaneous expenses. 

In expense, i think turbotax is automatically allocating portion of amount entered in miscellaneous expense? so for instance, if i enter the bed frame used for rental room exclusively, actual cost $100, it proportions to $30 with 30% rental percentage, but since it is used for rented room, should i deliberately enter it as $333, so it portions back to $100?  

thank you again for your help. 

[Carl]

Several things you may not be aware of. First, when it comes to taxes and dealing with the IRS, it's important to know the three "golden rules" in case you ever get audited.

1. If audited, you are guilty until proven innocent.

2. If audited, the burden of proof is on the accused (that's you!) and not the accuser.

3. If it's not in writing, then it did not occur.  

Next, when you get all done with your taxes, check the amount of depreciation on your residence for the tax year. Manually figure it yourself using the worksheet on page 37 of IRS Publication 946 at https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p946.pdf.  Table A-6 on page 72 is what you'll use for line 6 of the worksheet. More than likely, what the program figures will be wrong.

The percentage of your property that is classified as rental is the percentage of square footage that is exclusive to the renter. For example, if you are renting out a bedroom that occupies 10% of your total floor space, then your rental percentage is 10%.  Now if that bedroom as a 2nd bath that is only accessible from that bedroom, then you can include the square footage of the bath also.

1, front door smart lock (<$2000): need due to ease on tenant entry management

If the lock is installed on the door to the room that is exclusive to the renter, then it's cost is 100% deductible in the rental expenses section, and is not entered in the assets section.  If the lock is installed on your front entry door that is used by you, your family and the tenant, then only a percentage of the cost equal to the percentage of floorspace entered is deductible as a valid rental expense. Again, do not enter this as an asset, as you are just creating an avoidable nightmare in your future when either the lock breaks and needs to be replaced, or you sell the property.

2, bed provide for tenant (<$2000): provide furniture

That's an asset and does get entered in the assets/depreciation section with a MACRS classification of Furniture, which gets depreciated over 5 years. It's your call if you want to take the SEC179 or SDA deduction, or deduct it over the 5 year class life of furniture. Regardless of what method you choose, keep in mind that depreciation is not a permanent deduction. You have to recapture that depreciation and pay taxes on it in the year you sell or otherwise dispose of the asset.

3, household supplier(<$2000): liquid detergent soap, toilet paper , etc.

Are you supplying that to you tenant? If so, you need to account for such items separately from those that you use, and then you can claim the full price of those items you supply to the tenant for their personal use. Otherwise, you'll have a difficult time proving to the IRS what you provided to the tenant if audited.

4, new washer and dryer (<$2000): purchased to better attract tenant but no separate laundry room in house means i also used it. can this still be deductible?

This too needs to be entered in the Assets/Depreciation section with the business use percentage equal to the percentage of floor space that is exclusive to the tenant.  Just like with the bed and other bedroom furniture, you can elect SEC179, SDA, or MACRS depreciation over 5 years.

5, internet& WIFI: share with tenant, does it deductible?

Only that percentage equal to the percentage of floor space exclusive to the tenant.

6, homeowner insurance: purchased for my house as primary residence purpose, does it deductible for that one bedroom rental?

Again, only that percentage equal to the floor space that is exclusive to the tenant. You'll have to figure that manually and enter it. The percentage of insurance that applies to the rental percentage is deductible on the SCH E. Whereas the percentage applied to the non-rental portion is not deductible at all anywhere on your tax return.

Remember, double-check the depreciation on your residence, as I fully expect what you figure manually to be in total disagreement with what the program figures.