[Partial Rental Schedule E] Can I remove rental asset if expenses already deduct income?

[hno4]

I started to rent partial of my primary residence in 2024 for 4 months and the rest of time I lived and used for personal use. In Schedule E, my expenses could already deduct my rental income so I don't need the rental asset depreciation deduction. When I input the rental asset, it asked for purchased/land price and for business usage %, then it calculated depreciation expense which seems I don't need. Could I remove the rental asset from the list? 

If not, is this answer correct?

[MindyB]

Can you clarify what you mean by "expenses already deduct income"?  You will report your income in Schedule E, then separately report and deduct expenses.  You can't deduct income.  If you mean that you have enough expenses to offset your income, you still should take the depreciation expenses, because if you don't you will need to recapture the missed depreciation when you sell (essentially permanently losing the deduction).  So, do not delete the rental asset.

[hno4]

Thanks for the reply! Yes, the expenses/repairs have already covered or deducted my rental income, so I don't need the asset depreciation to deduct any income. Could you help to elaborate why I need to recapture the missed depreciation when selling?

For the context, this is my primary residence and this is my first time for partial renting, I thought the property depreciation could be used to deduct the rental income for now, but will deduct from capital gain when selling the property in the future, so if I don't need this depreciation deduction now, I thought I don't need to adjust/deduct capital gain when selling

This is property asset I'm talking:

[PatriciaV]

Depreciation is a way of recognizing the cost of a purchased asset with a long useful life over the years that it is used for a business or rental property. From a business standpoint, it's better to deduct the depreciation as you use the asset each year, since it will reduce your taxable income from that activity.

Further, the IRS expects you to claim depreciation for that asset. If you don't, you will still need to account for the depreciation you didn't take when you eventually sell the asset. Depreciation reduces the asset's book value. When you sell the asset, the gain on the sale is the difference between the sales price and the book value of the asset. Since you have to account for depreciation when you sell the asset in the future, it makes sense to claim the benefit of the depreciation deduction each year that you use the asset.