Turn one register line into the several assets it should have been, without changing a single total.
Where this is in the app
Dashboard → open the return → Assets tab → open the asset → Split asset
The Split asset button sits in the asset page header, next to Dispose. The page it opens is headed Split asset.
Reach for it when one record in DepreciationPro should be several. A building and its roof, six machines entered as one line.
This article covers what a split does and where to start one. The details of dividing, previewing, and reversing each have their own article, linked below.
What a split does
A split turns one asset into two or more pieces.
The original asset stays. It is not deleted and not zeroed out. It is reduced in place to its own share and keeps its identity and history.
The other pieces become new assets. Each one inherits the original's schedule and carries its own share of every figure.
Every dollar is conserved. Cost, prior accumulated depreciation, §179, MACRS basis, and the book figures all sum back to what the original held, to the penny. Shares that do not divide evenly are allocated so the remainder lands deliberately rather than being rounded independently.
A split records no disposal and no sale. Prior accumulated depreciation is apportioned across the pieces rather than reset.
Where to start one
Open the asset and look at the buttons in its header. Split asset opens the split screen.
If the asset cannot be split, the button is greyed and its tooltip names the first reason. You can still click it. The split screen explains every reason rather than leaving you guessing. See When an asset cannot be split.
What the split screen shows
Three panels:
Allocation. Where you say how much goes to each piece. See Choose how to divide a split: percentage, dollars, or units.
Allocation Preview. A live table of what each piece would receive, with a Total (= pre-split) footer row and the note "Every column sums to the original asset's pre-split value, to the penny." Nothing is written until you click Split asset.
Asset Information. The original's placed-in-service date, original cost, prior accumulated depreciation, recovery period, method, and convention, so you can check them without leaving the screen.
When the split takes effect
A split is effective as of the start of the asset's current open tax year. The screen states which year. History through the last year end is allocated as prior accumulated depreciation, and current-year depreciation computes fresh on each piece.
There is no date to enter.
Finding the pieces afterwards
Once a split exists, both the original and each piece carry a Split Lineage card on their asset page.
On a piece: Split from, linking back to the original.
On the original: Split into N assets, linking to each piece.
A piece found on its own a year later is traceable back to the record it came from.
The asset's history also gains entries. The original gets a Split entry. Each new piece gets a From Split entry.