TT asking about special depreciation allowance from 2019

[writer2022]

Hello--This is probably insignificant but it's bothering me. 

I'm a freelance writer and in 2019 I bought a $400 laptop for work and input it as an asset under my business expenses. TT generated a Form 4562, $200 was populated as a special depreciation allowance (line 14), and that was that. I haven't deducted any other business assets before or since and hadn't thought about it again until this year. Now TT is asking me a bunch of questions about bonus depreciation and the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and whether I want to input "addbacks"(?) to my 2018, 2019 (pulling up the $200 allowance amount from that year), 2020, 2021 returns. I just continued on through the whole section without inputting anything and now I'm having trouble getting TT to even re-ask the questions.

Is there anything I must or should do with this? I was under the impression that having deducted half the value of the laptop, that was the end of it? 

[JulieS]

No, you probably don't need to be concerned about that.

If your business use of the laptop is 100%, you can deduct the $200 (50%) special depreciation in the first year and the other $200 is depreciated over the remaining useful life of the asset (5 years for computers). 

If you enter this is TurboTax in 2017, the depreciation will be deducted on your tax return each year until the entire $400 has been deducted. As long as you don't sell the laptop, you don't have to be concerned about adding anything back. 

If you do sell the laptop, you need to enter information about it in TurboTax to see if you have a taxable gain from the sale. 

If your state return requires an adjustment of your depreciation, you will be asked follow up questions in the state interview. 

[writer2022]

Thanks, Julie. The first year (year of purchase) was 2019. If I haven't taken any of the remaining $200 in depreciation since then, is it too late to do so now? Would doing so mean amending prior year returns?

[JulieS]

Yes, you would need to amend to take the depreciation if it was not taken. If you have been using TurboTax since then, it should be on your returns on Form 4562.

Click here to learn more about amending prior years.