CapEx or Maintenance - New property 1st turnover

[Nick Bleser]

We recently bought an 8-plex and just had our first move out. The tenant did a good job at cleaning it out but you can tell the landlords over the years haven't given it a lot of TLC. We decided to replace a lot of small things and I'm wondering if it's considered maintenance or capital expenditures from a tax deduction point of view. Examples would be new toilet, door knobs, light fixtures, blinds, faucets, etc. 

Can all these items plus labor be deducted?

Thanks BP community!

[Ned Carey]

It seems as though they are all small enough to be deducted as expenses. I would certainly enter them as expenses then at the end of the year my CPA would reveiw and change if he felt it was necessary.

You may know this but for those reading along. The other option is to "Capitalize" the expenses. These get added to the basis of the property and you deduction them over a period of years as "Depreciation.  Usually it is considered best to expense an item right away. A deduction today is worth  more than a deduction tomorrow.