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Intuit Community Champion
July 13, 2024
Question

How to add a Schedule E expense just for the state return?

  • July 13, 2024
  • 1 reply
  • 6 views

On the "Other" expenses field for a Schedule E rental property, I need to add an expense that is only for the state return and not for the federal return (it's a 481(a) adjustment for a form 3115 accounting method change to apply a cost segregation study, and California needs a different 481(a) adjustment because they don't conform to bonus depreciation). 

I think the way to do that is to enter an expense for the rental for the adjustment with "Source" set to "N" for the federal adjustment, and then a separate expense for CA
with "Source" set to "S".  But that doesn't seem to work at all.  The "N" source amount still shows up on the CA return, and the "S" source amount doesn't show up anywhere, it doesn't flow to the CA return at all (the PDF output of the entire tax return is completely unchanged after adding an "S" source expense).

Edit:  This is in multi-state mode.  And I did find that it works fine if I change their "Resident State as of 12/31" to a different state, but that doesn't help because they're a CA resident.  The issue might be because CA residents are taxed on all their income regardless of the state, but we still need a way to specify a different expense specifically for the state for this type of situation.

    1 reply

    George4Tacks
    Level 15
    July 13, 2024

    How about in Schedule E, Other Deductions you enter 481(a) adjustment and a -1 (ProConnect version of a Zero) for  Federal and the amount you want for CA? 

    Answers are easy. Questions are hard!
    taxmoIntuit Community ChampionAuthor
    Intuit Community Champion
    July 13, 2024

    ProConnect doesn't have separate federal/state fields for Schedule E expenses, so that doesn't really work that way for this.  It has an "Other expenses" field, which is what I'm using.  In multi-state mode you can choose the state and a "source" type.

    George4Tacks
    Level 15
    July 14, 2024

    Okay, you are right. 

    Try Modifications > CA Modifications > Other Subtractions (Click ...) > 481(a) adjustment and your amount.  That will put it on Schedule CA This gets it done

    OR On Sch E input > Income Statement > Depreciation & Amortization > Regular tax [Override] Input the adjustment amount of depreciation. I don't like overrides

    OR Sch E Add a depreciation item that is State Only , i.e. -1 for Federal and your adjustment *27.5 with a depreciation code of 85 This has become my favorite

    Answers are easy. Questions are hard!