home office repair expenses

[MEL317]

I have a home office, and I had a lot of repair and maintenance expenses last year.  Specifically,

• Removal of a dying tree from yard
• Landscaping and grading an area near the house to prevent water entering the basement (where the office is)
• Replacing an underground oil tank with above ground tank
• Replacing half of the backyard fence
• Lawn care (raking, mowing, weed control, etc.)

Amounts range from $1500 to $6000, total $18000.

Can I put all of these items in the “enter repair expenses” page (or maybe some other page?) of TurboTax Home and Business? 

Thank you in advance for any advice you can give me.

Mary Ellen

[JohnB5677 · Accepted solution]

All of the items can be expensed with the possible exception of the underground oil tank with above ground tank.  This may be considered an improvement that increases the value of the property.

"The IRS has permitted taxpayers to deduct the costs of replacing underground waste storage tanks where the new tanks were filled with waste once, sealed indefinitely, had no salvage value, and had no remaining useful life to the taxpayer. The IRS has required taxpayers to capitalize the costs of replacing underground gasoline storage tanks where such tanks constituted the acquisition of an asset that had useful life to the taxpayer substantially beyond the taxable year."

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY : INFO 2001-0288

[MEL317]

Wow -- Thank you for sharing your expertise!  And for doing it so quickly!  My estimation of TurboTax just went up about 1000 percent!