Depreciation of land vs. building

[Mariah Jeffery]

I bought several properties this year and I'm trying to figure out how to get the highest depreciation deduction possible. I do my taxes myself and plan to continue to do so.

The value of the land, according to the tax assessor, is generally a very high percent of the property's value. Here is an example of a property that I've bought:

Duplex:
Purchase price - $59.5K
Tax assessment - $63K ($26K for land, $37K for building)
Appraisal - $67K total value

The best I can come up with is to take the $26K for land and divide this by the $67K appraised value, to get 38.8% of the value allocated to land. This will allow me to depreciate 61.2% of the $59.5K purchase price, or $36.4K. I'll allocate a few thousand to appliances, which can be depreciated more quickly, and the rest to the building itself. Is there any way I can justify depreciating any more than 61.2% of the purchase price?

I have another property that I purchased for $72.6K, and did not have an appraisal. The tax assessment is $77K with $26K going towards land. This property has two nice houses on it and I'm sure the market value is upwards of $100K. For this one, can I use some comps to determine the total value and still use the $26K as the value of the land?

I'd really appreciate some creative ideas on how to increase my depreciation deductions. Thanks!

~MJ