Rental Realestate-Carpet expense or depreciate

[ljwalters]

New Carpet in a rental house. Clients distroyed the old carpet with cats.

is it expensed or depreciated? If depreciated for how long?

Linda

[Pacun]

Expense it.

[SCL]

carpet is a specifically noted 5 year rental property class. i'm assuming the amount is a thousand or more (2 or 3+ thousand? - it helps to know the amount and in relation to the gross rent).

[jainen]

>>carpet is a specifically noted 5 year rental property class<<

Carpet may be a capital improvement if it adds to the life of the building or makes the building useful for another purpose. In other words, if you upgrade from the old sawdust floor system to a nice Persian weave, depreciate over five years. If you're just fixing where the cat peed, expense it.