Basis of depreciation calculation - sale price? tax assessment?

[Karen Young]

Good morning everyone!

Let me thank you in advance for taking the time to help us newbies!

Question: to calculate depreciation, what price do you use? the county tax assessment, the sale price, or the appraisal price?

2nd Question: what percentage do you use to subtract the land?

The property is a condo in SC; the sale price was $103k; appraisal price was $113k; the county tax assessment was $105,500.

[Dave Toelkes]

Karen Young, 

Yes, you are making this way too complicated.  Go to your county's website and click the Online Services tab.  Select "Search property records" then search by your last name.  The property card for your property should tell you exactly how much of the tax assessed value is attributed to the land and how much to the dwelling structure.  Use the ratio of the value of the dwelling structure to the total value of the property to determine how much of your purchase price is attributed to the dwelling structure.  That amount becomes your depreciation basis.  

Here in Horry and Georgetown counties, the tax assessor assigns a $0 value to land in condo complexes. Makes it easy to justify using the entire purchase price plus settlement costs as my depreciation basis.