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Updated 7 months ago on . Most recent reply

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Andrew C.
  • Investor
  • SE Wisconsin
70
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111
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what do you use to track FixedAssets for depreciation/amortization?

Andrew C.
  • Investor
  • SE Wisconsin
Posted

I'm using Quickbooks to track overall finances. So I have a FixedAssets account in the chart of accounts, but that's not really usable for tracking the per-item depreciation...there's no entry for when it was placed in use, no way to state depreciation lifetime, nothing that ties loan points to the loan so you notice when you refinance that you should take all the rest of that line item as depreciation immediately, etc. You can, ofc, record the depreciation once taken so the books are accurate, but it's a lousy tool for figuring out what the depreciation should be (or, providing your accountant with the relevant info so they can do it).

What tools is everyone using for this? bonus points if it somehow links to quickbooks so it's easier to keep them aligned.

Alternative question: CPAs - what tools/formats do you prefer your clients to use to give you the information needed, so you can calculate their depreciation?


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Erica Calella
  • Investor
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Erica Calella
  • Investor
Replied
Quote from @Andrew C.:

I'm using Quickbooks to track overall finances. So I have a FixedAssets account in the chart of accounts, but that's not really usable for tracking the per-item depreciation...there's no entry for when it was placed in use, no way to state depreciation lifetime, nothing that ties loan points to the loan so you notice when you refinance that you should take all the rest of that line item as depreciation immediately, etc. You can, ofc, record the depreciation once taken so the books are accurate, but it's a lousy tool for figuring out what the depreciation should be (or, providing your accountant with the relevant info so they can do it).

What tools is everyone using for this? bonus points if it somehow links to quickbooks so it's easier to keep them aligned.

Alternative question: CPAs - what tools/formats do you prefer your clients to use to give you the information needed, so you can calculate their depreciation?



It depends on what your needs for this tracker are. There are many differences when comparing tax depreciation to book depreciation. If you are tracking depreciation for purposes of repairs and maintenance (like anticipated timing of a new roof for example), you could probably get away with using excel and then just manually booking a journal entry. I don't think it really matters what you record in QB if you need this for taxable income purposes, your accountant is going to make whatever adjustments they need to make anyway.

The only depreciation tracker I use is the fixed asset schedule my accountant provides with my tax return. Then I usually update the financials I keep on hand to align with it accordingly.

I'm a CPA but I don't even file my own taxes so please take my response with a grain of salt. 

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