Depreciation for rental property Driveway

[Bearcat252]

My accountant has been depreciating the cost of an added driveway for my rental property over 15 years.  Everything I've found on-line states that a driveway is considered an improvement to the land and is depreciated over 15 years.  However, Turbo Tax used the default 27.5 years depreciation for a house.  How do I override this incorrect depreciation formula in Turbo Tax?

[tagteam · Accepted solution]

When you enter an asset in that section of Rental Properties, select Land improvements after selecting Rental Real Estate Property.

[AnnetteB6 · Accepted solution]

Here is a guide for how to go about entering depreciation into TurboTax in order to duplicate the entries that have been made on previous returns to continue the same depreciation.

• Start from the Schedule C or Schedule E section of your return until you get to the Assets/Depreciation section.
• Proceed to the point where you are adding an asset on the page titled Describe This Asset.
• In order to enter the asset exactly as it has been reported in the past, choose the last option on the list, Intangibles, Other Property, then click Continue.
• On the next page titled, Tell Us a Little More, select Other asset type, then click Continue.
• Enter the detailed information about the asset:  description, cost, date purchased or acquired.  Click Continue.
• Move forward with additional details on the next screen, then click Continue.
• Select the appropriate Asset Class, then click Continue.
• Choose the MACRS Convention, then click Continue.
• Select the Depreciation Method, then click Continue.
• Answer the question regarding Listed Property, then click Continue.  There may be some additional background questions as well, keep going.
• You will eventually come to a screen to confirm the Prior Depreciation, enter the data and click Continue.
• Finally, you will see an Asset Summary screen with the current year depreciation amount listed.  There is also a check-box here to Show Details.  This will open a full description for the asset so you can verify that it matches the previously reported information.  If it does not, you can choose to go Back and re-enter the data that needs to be changed.

[Bearcat252]

No need to answer; I figured it out.  There is a way to appropriately enter this asset as a Land Improvement.