Get the book schedule, or the book-to-tax difference, out of the product and into a workpaper.
Pick either one from Report Template on a return's Report tab. Both export to Excel, CSV, and PDF, and both read the same figures as the Book depr. tab, so nothing needs reconciling between them.
Book Depreciation Schedule
Per-asset book detail. The columns are Description, Placed in Service, Useful Life, Salvage, Cost, Depr Basis, Method, Conv, Current Year, Accumulated, and Book NBV, with a grand total across the bottom.
Fully depreciated assets are highlighted amber.
Assets with no GAAP book are not on it.
A return with no books at all says "No assets with GAAP book records found in this return" rather than printing an empty schedule.
On screen the report is headed "Book Depreciation Schedule (GAAP)", though the template picker lists it without the suffix.
Tax vs. Book Reconciliation
This one runs both calculations and puts them side by side. It opens on six columns:
Column | What it holds |
Description | The asset |
PIS Date | Placed-in-service date |
Cost | Original cost |
Tax Depr | Tax depreciation for the year |
Book Depr | Book depreciation for the year |
Temp Diff | Tax Depr − Book Depr |
A positive Temp Diff means tax depreciation is running ahead of book, which is what you see once bonus or Section 179 is in play. Negative figures show in green.
The accumulated and NBV columns are there but switched off. Click Columns at the right of the bar above the table to add Tax Accum, Book Accum, Cum Diff, Tax NBV, and Book NBV. Cum Diff is Tax Accum − Book Accum, the cumulative version of Temp Diff.
Every asset appears, book or not
Unlike the schedule, the reconciliation lists every depreciable asset on the return. An asset with no GAAP book shows book depreciation of 0.00 and its row is greyed out, so the whole of its tax depreciation reads as a difference.
A large unexplained difference is usually a missing book rather than a real one. The greying is the hint to check.
Construction-in-progress assets are left off the reconciliation entirely.