How much depreciation can you claim on rental property

An Example of Real Estate Depreciation

“This is making my head spin. How is rental property depreciation calculated in real life?”

Time for an example. You bought a home in June for $200,000, with the land valued at $30,000 and the building valued at $170,000. You make $10,000 in capital improvements. Add that to your $170,000 for a building cost basis of $180,000.

Depreciated over 27.5 years, that comes to $6,545 in annual depreciation, and you can deduct a prorated amount of $3,546 in the first year. The annual depreciation comes off the top of your net operating income. Let’s say you bring in $12,000 a year in rental income, but have $4,000 in operating expenses. That leaves you with $8,000 in net income, but you can deduct the $6,545 from the $8,000 for $1,455 in taxable rental income.

Depending on your tax situation, the depreciation write-off may even knock you into a lower tax bracket, creating even more savings.

Then you decide to sell the property after ten years, for $300,000. You owe capital gains taxes on $90,000, as your cost basis is $210,000: purchase price of $200,000 plus $10,000 in capital improvements. Plus you also owe depreciation recapture — at your regular income tax rate, though capped at 25% — on the $62,451 you were allowed to deduct for depreciation ($3,546 from the first year, plus nine years at $6,545/year).

Or you can just our rental property depreciation calculator.

Free Rental Property Depreciation Calculator

Knowing a property’s depreciation value helps make investment decisions. If you know you can depreciate a property say $5,000 a year, it makes it a lucrative investment. You know you can knock $5,000 off the top of your income, and when combined with other deductions, may leave you with little to no tax liabilities.

This rental property depreciation calculator helps you make fast decisions by seeing the depreciation amount instantly.

Depreciation Rules for Rental Properties

First, the deprecation rules apply only to investment properties. You can’t depreciate your own home. But you get other deductions and tax breaks for owning a home, such as the primary residence exclusion, plus perks like homeowner financing even when you house hack.

Depreciation only applies to non-owner-occupied income properties. The IRS lets you deduct for the building’s natural decline over time, since it’s a physical structure that deteriorates and loses value over time without maintenance and repairs. You can’t depreciate the value of the land, since it doesn’t deteriorate.

To qualify, you must own the property for longer than one year. If you flip houses, for example, you can’t use depreciation unless you hold onto the property for longer than a year. 

If you own an investment home, you may depreciate it for the first 27.5 years or until you sell the home. This works out to 3.636% per year.

Many people invest in real estate because it will naturally appreciate over time. But there is also a concept called depreciation that helps rental property owners save money in taxes at the end of the year. Here is a look at rental property depreciation and what you need to know.

Depreciation is an accounting term that refers to a loss in value over time. All assets and products, including real estate, lose their value as time passes. Rental property depreciation allows you to deduct this loss of value as an expense on your taxes when you own income-producing real estate. 

hash-markTable of Contents

What is Rental Property Depreciation?
Real Estate Depreciation Rules
How to Calculate Depreciation on Rental Property
Do You Have to Depreciate a Rental Property?
Rental Property Depreciation Bottom Line

hash-markWhat is Rental Property Depreciation?

Rental property depreciation is the rate at which real estate investors can depreciate their property and take tax deductions on it. The IRS permits rental property owners to deduct a set percentage of the property’s cost basis from the taxes owed on the generated income over the useful life of the property. Typically, the rental property depreciates over 27.5 years, at a rate of 3.64% per year. 

Depreciation can save real estate investors hundreds of thousands of dollars over the life of the property. However, the IRS has strict rules regarding rental property depreciation, so be sure you consult a tax professional to get the full deduction.

hash-markReal Estate Depreciation Rules

The IRS sets strict rules regarding which properties qualify for depreciation and how it can be deducted. Otherwise, it would be far too easy to take advantage of this technique. Here are some of the standard rules that property owners should understand.

What Properties Qualify

First, it’s essential to know if your property qualifies for depreciation. The IRS requires the following conditions be met before you can depreciate a rental property:

  • You must own the property (although you aren’t required to own 100% of the equity and can still depreciate the property with a mortgage).
  • You must use the property in a business capacity or as an income-producing asset.
  • The property must have a determinable useful life (for instance, raw land can’t depreciate because it doesn’t wear out, decay, or become obsolete).
  • The useful life of the property must last more than a year.

When Does Depreciation Start?

Depreciation begins as soon as the property is ready and available to renters. So, remember that this may not be when you purchase the property or rent it out. 

Say, for instance, you buy a home on June 1st, but it still needs maintenance. The renovations are finished on July 15th, when you put it on the market. You find a tenant reasonably quickly, but their lease doesn’t begin until August 1st. 

In this case, depreciation would start on July 15th, not June or August 1st, because that’s when the property was first available for service.

How Long Does Depreciation Last? 

The IRS sets strict limits on the amount of time you can recover the costs or other basis of a rental property, known as the recovery period. The recovery period for most residential rental properties is 27.5 years. That means you can deduct 100% of the property’s value over the entire recovery period, which comes out to about 3.636% per year (100 / 27.5).

However, the IRS does allow you to depreciate specific improvements faster than 27.5 years. For instance, appliances can be depreciated on a five-year schedule because their useful life is shorter. You may want to consult a tax professional and use a different schedule to track separate improvements. 

hash-markHow to Calculate Depreciation on Rental Property

  1. Determine Your Cost Basis
  2. Add Any Qualified Closing Costs
  3. Calculate Depreciation

1. Determine Your Cost Basis

The first step to calculating depreciation is to determine your cost basis. Depreciation is calculated as a percentage of the cost basis, not the property’s market value. Your cost basis refers to the amount you paid for the property plus any improvements or qualified closing costs. Also, because land does not depreciate, only the home’s value must be factored into the cost basis.

Let’s say you paid $200,000 for a rental property, but it’s sitting on a $40,000 plot of land. You also plan on spending an additional $30,000 to renovate it before selling.

To calculate your initial cost basis, you would take:

Purchase price – land value + improvements = 200,000 – 40,000 + 20,00 = $180,000

2. Add Any Qualified Closing Costs 

Next, you can also add qualified closing costs to your cost basis. Remember that the higher your cost basis, the more you can depreciate, so you want to add as many permittable fees as possible.

Qualified Closing Costs Include:

  • Property Taxes
  • Abstract fees
  • Recording Fees
  • Transfer Taxes
  • Survey fees
  • Title fees
  • Debts and fees you agree to assume for the seller (such as real estate commissions, mechanics liens, back taxes, etc.)

Say you add up all the additional fees, up to $8,000. Then your new cost basis would be $188,000.

3. Calculate Depreciation 

Finally, to calculate depreciation, you simply take your cost basis and divide it by the useful life of the property. Let’s use the example above of a property with a cost basis of $188,000 and divide it by the GDS lifespan of 27.5 years. 

The calculation looks like this: 188,000 / 27.5 = $6,836.36

That means you can deduct an additional $6,836.36 annually from your taxable income in depreciation.

hash-markDo You Have to Depreciate a Rental Property?

No, depreciation isn’t mandatory, but it is highly recommended for anyone who owns an investment property. Aside from maybe having to hire an accountant to help you keep track of your depreciation schedule, there is little downside to depreciating a rental property (which you probably should have anyway).

While it may seem a bit overwhelming at first, depreciation can potentially save you hundreds of thousands of dollars in the long run, especially if you plan on building an extensive portfolio. So, while it isn’t legally required, it would be a mistake not to take advantage of depreciation.

hash-markRental Property Depreciation Bottom Line 

Depreciation is a powerful concept that allows rental property owners to account for the expected loss in value over time. The typical depreciation schedule for a rental property lasts close to 30 years, which means you can continue reaping the benefits for several decades. It can get somewhat complicated to keep track of everything. But as long as you develop a system to track your expenses and determine an accurate cost basis, you’ll be able to deduct several thousands of dollars or more from your taxable income each year.

How do you calculate depreciation on a rental property?

To calculate the annual amount of depreciation on a property, you divide the cost basis by the property's useful life. In our example, let's use our existing cost basis of $206,000 and divide by the GDS life span of 27.5 years. It works out to being able to deduct $7,490.91 per year or 3.6% of the loan amount.

Should you claim depreciation on rental property?

Are you required to take depreciation on rental property? In short, you are not legally required to depreciate rental property. However, choosing not to depreciate rental property is a massive financial mistake. It's the equivalent of pouring a percentage of your rental property profits down the drain.

What is the bonus depreciation for 2022?

Bonus depreciation in a nutshell The TCJA expanded the deduction to 100% in the year qualified property is placed in service through 2022, with the amount dropping each subsequent year by 20%, until bonus depreciation sunsets in 2027, unless Congress acts to extend it.

Does depreciation offset rental income?

Depreciation is one of the biggest and most important deductions for rental real estate investors because it reduces taxable income but not cash flow.