Sold SFR w/depreciable asset - only 6 of 27 yrs in....

[Daria B.]

Hi,

I recently ( yesterday :-} ) sold my rental unit (doing a 1031x). 

I owned the unit for many years and the units depreciation itself was already nearing the end of the depreciation. However, the flooring was just into the beginning stages of depreciation.

In 2019 I did some rehabbing and replaced all flooring with waterproof LVP throughout having paid about $3586 for materials and installation. I'm only into year 6 of the depreciations.

Have I just lost the remaining deprecation years for the flooring? 

Or can I take what would be remaining and expense it?

What, if any, does that have to do with the replacement property considering it will beginning it's own depreciation cycle? (I'm thinking it has nothing to do with the replacement property.)

Attached is a snippet of the flooring depreciation totals from my tax return. I'm only $602 into the $3586 of cost.

Cheers and thanks in advance!

[Michael Plaks]

@Daria B.

You're not "losing" depreciation on anything. And I'm not sure why you single out your flooring because the concept applies across the board.

In your particular example, you spent $3,500 on flooring, and $500 has been depreciated. The remaining $3,000 rolls into your replacement property and continues to be depreciated. This is the same exact result as if you did not sell it.

This is assuming that you're buying depreciable property as a replacement and not, for example, undeveloped land. But these are technicalities, and you still do not "lose" anything.

PS. My buddy @Dave Foster made a strange comment "If your accountant will let you expense it that would give you more benefit if the short term." No, we do not have the freedom to do so. We also have them rules, just like y'all.