Tell the two book numbers apart, so you tie the right one to the right workpaper line.
DepreciationPro shows two different subtractions from cost, in two separately labelled columns. They are easy to mix up if you only see one of them, so here is which is which.
Where this is in the app
Both columns live on a return's book views: the Book depr. tab, the asset's GAAP Book tab, and the Book Depreciation Schedule on the Report tab. The table below says which number appears on which.
Column | What the app puts in it |
Book NBV | Cost − accumulated depreciation |
Depreciable Basis | Cost − salvage |
Book NBV is a default column on the Book depr. tab and a tile on the asset's GAAP Book tab. Depreciable Basis is a default column on the Book Depreciation Schedule report, headed "Depr Basis"; on the Book depr. tab it is an optional column you switch on through Columns.
Neither is ever labelled with the bare word "basis" on its own, and Depreciable Basis is never labelled NBV. If you are looking at a column headed just "basis", it is not one of these.
Salvage is the floor, not a subtraction from NBV
Because Book NBV is cost minus accumulated, salvage does not come out of it. Once the depreciable basis is used up, the asset carries its salvage value rather than zero.
Worked example. A $24,000 machine, sixty-month book life, $2,000 salvage.
Depreciable basis is $22,000.
Monthly amount is $366.67.
After sixty months, accumulated depreciation is $22,000.
Book NBV is $2,000, not nothing.
That $2,000 is what the Book NBV column, the asset's NBV tile, the reports, the exports, and the journal entries all show.
Fully depreciated assets
An asset whose depreciable basis is used up is marked fully depreciated. It stays on the Book Depreciation Schedule report with its row highlighted amber, still carrying its salvage value, and stops taking expense. It does not drop off the report.
On the asset itself, the Book NBV tile turns amber and reads "Fully depreciated".