Determining Home Depreciation Value from Tax Assessment

[Steve Wright]

This is the first year my prior home became a rental and I understand that depreciation is only for the value of the home.  I looked up the tax assessment and the total is less than half of what I paid when I bought it.  Can I calculate the land-to-home ratio of the assessment against my purchase price to determine the home's value?  In my case, the land is 30.36% of the overall assessed value and the home is 69.64%.  I bought the home for $135K, so the home would be $94K of that value (135,000 * .6964).  Can I use that on my taxes?

[Michael Plaks]

Quote from @Steve Wright:

Not sure what you mean by claiming what I didn't pay, I paid to improve the property before it was rented.

Yes, it seems strange to me if someone purchases a home, improves it, then rents it, that they can't claim the value of the improved property for depreciation, as they paid to improve it.

Steve, just like on another thread where you were asking about renting to your family, you are not sharing full information and then are getting upset that we are somehow not reading your mind. How are we supposed to know you made improvements?

What you paid for improvements you DO add to your depreciation. But the current appraisal/value is irrelevant - it goes up in value due to appreciation for which you did not pay. 

What you can depreciate is what you calculated ($94k) plus whatever you actually spent on improvements. However, the extra $15k appraisal means nothing for taxes.