Schedule C -- Car & Truck Expenses Worksheet -- Part VII, Line 51

[ScottTS]

My wife is a realtor and we traded her car in last October.

I answered all the questions in her Schedule C regarding Disposing of the old car and the adding of the new car.

I just ran a Smart Check and it has sent me to Schedule C -- Car & Truck Expenses Worksheet -- Part VII, Line 51 and Line 52 which have a value in them that I didn't enter anywhere. They are both RED, and Smart Check says "AMT dep allowed/allowable is too large. For disposition calculations, depreciation cannot exceed business basis."

It obviously knows what the maximum value is but doesn't tell me.

But the real problem is, I can't type in the fields to even try other values.

How do I figure out the value that should be there and how do I set it?

[DianeW777 · Accepted solution]

It may be best if you follow the instructions below to enter your car sale. The way to report the sale (trade is not really recognized by the IRS any longer for equipment or vehicles) is as follows. Due to the various miles and business use percentage it provides a flow to handle each aspect correctly.  Then list your new vehicle as a new asset.

You have all the records so it should provide you the detail to move forward.

1. All business miles for all years and then total miles for all years - divide business miles by total miles to arrive at your overall business use percentage for the life of the vehicle. You will use this percentage times the selling price (or trade-in value) to arrive at the business selling price. Use the same percentage to arrive at your business portion of the cost before depreciation. 
2. You used the standard mileage rate and a portion of that rate represents depreciation. See the details below to arrive at the depreciation portion for the business miles only.
3. When you go through the vehicle information in your rental be sure to select 'Sold, disposed of, etc....' then do not indicate it was sold.  You must say 'Yes' it was converted to personal use.  This will eliminate any sales information in the vehicle it self.
4. Once you have completed the information in that section you will follow the steps below to enter your sale:
   1. Go to Less Common Business Situations
   2. Scroll to Sale of  Business Property
   3. On the next screen select Any Other Property Sale
   4. Use the information from step one and the depreciation from step 2 to complete your sale
5. If the personal portion of your vehicle is a loss there is nothing to report for that portion of the sale/trade. 

 Annual Depreciation Component Breakdown (for more years see the chart in IRS Pub 463)

• 2025: $.33
• 2024: $.30
• 2023: $.28
• 2022: $.26
• 2021: $.26