TurboTax throwing me depreciation error when filing Schedule C for business assets

I'm trying to file my taxes using TurboTax and hitting a weird error during the depreciation section. I have two business assets I'm depreciating on my Schedule C: a laptop I purchased for $750 back in February 2019 and a professional printer bought for $1,600 in May 2022 that I use about 80% for my side business. TurboTax calculated the depreciation as $68 for the laptop and $293 for the printer. Everything seemed fine until I got to the Federal Review section. The Smart Check feature is giving me some error about my depreciation values but then crashes before showing the complete message. I can't figure out what's wrong with my depreciation entries and now I'm stuck in the review process. Has anyone else run into this issue with TurboTax depreciation calculations? Is there something I'm missing about how business assets should be entered?

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19 comments

Zainab Ahmed

•8M

The issue you're experiencing is likely related to how TurboTax is calculating your depreciation methods. For assets placed in service in 2019 (like your laptop), you're in the later years of the standard 5-year depreciation schedule for computers, which explains the $68 amount. For your printer purchased in 2022, you're still in the early years of its depreciation schedule. What's probably happening is that TurboTax is having trouble with the business-use percentage on your printer. When you enter the full cost ($1,600) but indicate only 80% business use, the software should automatically calculate the business portion, but sometimes this creates a validation error in the review process. Try going back to the asset entry screen and manually enter the business portion of the cost ($1,280) instead of the full amount with a percentage. Another possibility is that TurboTax is getting confused between different depreciation methods (straight line vs. MACRS). Check if you accidentally selected different depreciation methods for similar types of assets.

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Miguel Diaz

•8M

Thanks for the explanation! I went back and checked the asset entry screen like you suggested. When I changed it to enter only the business portion of the cost upfront instead of applying the percentage later, the error disappeared! I think TurboTax was calculating things correctly but something in their validation process wasn't handling the business-use percentage properly. I also noticed I had somehow selected different depreciation methods for my assets which probably contributed to the confusion. I set both to use MACRS (which seems to be the default) and now everything is flowing through correctly.

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Yara Abboud

•8M

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Natasha Ivanova

•8M

Try checking if you selected the right property class for each asset. Computers and peripherals should be 5-year property under MACRS, while certain types of office equipment might be 7-year property. If TurboTax thinks you're using the wrong property class, it could trigger validation errors during review. Also, make sure the business use percentage is entered in the right place. For partial business use, you want to apply the percentage to the depreciable basis, not after calculating the allowable depreciation.

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Natasha Ivanova

•8M

The IRS Publication 946 "How to Depreciate Property" has a comprehensive list of recovery periods for different types of assets. Generally speaking, computers, phones, and most electronic equipment fall under 5-year property. Office furniture is typically 7-year property. You can find the full publication on the IRS website, but here's a quick rule of thumb: if it's computer equipment, peripheral, or electronic device, it's almost always 5-year property. Your laptop and printer both fall into this category. The only common exception is if you have specialized equipment that's built into a building structure.

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Kaiya Rivera

•2M

I've dealt with this exact TurboTax depreciation error before! The problem is usually in how TurboTax handles the business use percentage calculation during its validation process. When you enter an asset with partial business use, the software sometimes gets confused between the total cost and the business portion during the Federal Review. Here's what worked for me: Go back to your asset entries and instead of entering the full purchase price with a business use percentage, calculate the business portion manually first. For your printer, that would be $1,600 × 80% = $1,280, then enter $1,280 as the cost with 100% business use. This bypasses TurboTax's percentage calculation that seems to be causing the validation error. Also double-check that both assets are set to the same depreciation method (MACRS) and property class (5-year for both laptop and printer). Inconsistent settings between similar assets can trigger those cryptic error messages that cut off mid-sentence.

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