Water Heater deduction when plumber purchased all parts?

[Andrew Wu]

Hi all,

This is my first post to this forum (I've been mostly a lurker)!

Apologies if this is the wrong sub-forum - please move if needed?

I own a small townhome in the SF Bay Area, in which I rent out 2 rooms. Today my water heater sprung a big leak. I called my plumber and after examining it, he went out and bought the replacement water heater and replaced the old unit. I wrote him a check and that was that. I did not get a chance to see his receipt for the parts purchased. =(

Based on reading other threads on water heater replacement, I understand that a new water heater is to be depreciated along with the rest of the unit (although how I'm not entirely sure). However, I don't know what the cost of the replacement water heater is or the division between the parts costs and the labor costs.

How am I to / should I be treating this when I file taxes next year?

Thank you!

[Dave Toelkes]

Originally posted by @Andrew Wu:

Based on reading other threads on water heater replacement, I understand that a new water heater is to be depreciated along with the rest of the unit (although how I'm not entirely sure). However, I don't know what the cost of the replacement water heater is or the division between the parts costs and the labor costs.
How am I to / should I be treating this when I file taxes next year?
Thank you!

You add the water heater to your schedule of depreciable assets and depreciate the water heater as a separate asset on its own 27.5 year schedule. Your accountant will know how to do this. If you do your own taxes, your tax preparation software should be able to deal with this easily enough.