Claim depreciation on rental?

[Joshua Bowers]

I’m trying to decide if I should claim depreciation on my rental property.

The main reason I’m hesitant is that I’m currently a student in a low tax bracket and plan to be in a higher tax bracket out of college and someday when I go to sell the property. My understanding is that if I claim depreciation now, I’ll have more capital gains to pay taxes on when I sell.

My situation:

Currently have one rental property that I’ve owned for 7 yrs and rented for 4 yrs, which rents for ~$23k yr.

Currently in 15% tax bracket.

Eligible for ~$6500 yr in depreciation, but never claimed it

Any suggestions/insight would be greatly appreciated!

Josh

[Russell Brazil]

Depreciation is not an optional deduction.  You can certainly not take advantage of it....but when you sell, you still pay the depreciation recapture regardless.