Click any row on the Assets tab and you land on that asset's own page. The inputs sit on the left. The depreciation sits on the right, and on a wide screen it stays there while you scroll the form.
Two tabs, two records
The form has a Tax tab and a GAAP Book tab. Tax opens by default. A green Active pill on the GAAP Book tab means the asset already has a book.
The book record reads three things from the tax side: the asset's original cost, its placed-in-service date, and nothing else. Give the book its own in-service date and even that link is broken. Book life, book method, book convention, and book salvage are the book's own. See Book depreciation, and how it stays separate from tax.
One button on the Tax tab
Save & recalculate sits in a bar at the bottom of the form, next to Cancel. The bar stays on screen while you scroll, so the save is always in reach. It writes your edits and recomputes the figures in the same action, so the fields and the numbers cannot disagree after a save.
While it runs it reads "Saving…", then "Saved ✓".
If something on the form fails validation, nothing saves and a message appears in the bar, right above the Save button: "Couldn't save — please fix the highlighted fields in the form." The field itself is marked in the form.
Cancel returns you to the assets grid without saving. Delete asset lives in the ⋯ menu at the top right of the page, beside the other asset actions, with a confirmation step before anything is removed.
The one other save on the page is Save asset details, at the foot of the Asset Details card above the tabs. It covers the fields both records share: description, Asset ID, placed-in-service date, cost, and the categorization. It does not recalculate.
The GAAP Book tab saves separately with its own Save GAAP book button, in the same kind of bar at the bottom of that tab, next to Delete GAAP book. Save & recalculate belongs to the Tax tab and is not shown while the GAAP Book tab is open.
The sections on the Tax tab
Top to bottom:
Asset Details, above the tabs and shared by both records. Description, Asset ID, placed-in-service date, and cost, then Categorization: property type, activity, GL account, and up to four source categories. It has its own Save asset details button.
Tax Depreciation, the first section under the Tax tab. Asset template, recovery period, the "This asset doesn't depreciate" control, method, convention, and salvage. On the Add asset form the same inputs are headed Depreciation Settings. The property type decides which appear: Land — not depreciated and Intangible / Capitalized Cost have no recovery period, method, or convention, so those controls are not shown for them.
Units of Production Settings, when the method is UOP.
The recovery controls and the Form 4562 Part VI details, when the property type is Intangible / Capitalized Cost. The recovery period in months, method and timing rule take the place of the usual recovery period and method, followed by four optional Part VI fields. An amber line names any of the three still missing, and a second amber line carries the saved review note when there is one to show. See Add an asset by hand.
Elections, when the asset is not real property, not land, the method is not UOP, and the property type is not Intangible / Capitalized Cost. Land gets a blue box in its place: "Land is not depreciated. Section 179 and bonus depreciation do not apply. The full basis is retained and tracked for disposition." See Where the elections live on an asset.
Prior Depreciation Taken. Always here. See Record prior depreciation on an asset.
Vehicle Information (Optional), when the property type is Personal Property, followed by Mileage Substantiation once the asset carries a GVWR. See Fill in vehicle details and clear the needs-review flag.
State Allocation. Which states this asset's depreciation is allocated to.
Activity and GL account sit in Categorization, in Asset Details. See Route groups to activities and Route groups to GL accounts. Together with state allocation they say where the asset belongs. They do not move a federal depreciation figure. They change what your reports can break out, and state allocation is what drives the asset's state adjustments.
Setting them one asset at a time is the slow path. Filter the grid and change a whole set at once instead. See Change a routing decision, or assign groups in bulk.
The band an imported asset arrived in is kept separately in Source Category, which is read-only. See The Source Category column and filter.
Reading the depreciation panel
The panel is headed Depreciation Calculation with a Tax Year pill. Section 179, Bonus and MACRS sit under a Deductions subheading. It lays out:
Row | What it is |
Original Cost | |
Convention | Shown as a pill. Amber when the asset is mid-quarter |
Section 179 | The amount allowed, not the amount elected |
Bonus (n%) | With the rate applied |
MACRS (n.nn%) | With the rate applied |
Total Depreciation | This year's deduction, the three lines above added up |
Remaining Basis | Original cost less everything taken, including this year |
Under the table, Calculation Notes spell out what the engine did. Expect lines such as the depreciation year, the prior accumulated figure, and any cap it applied.
When business use has dropped to 50% or below on a vehicle in year two or later, a red Business Use Recapture Triggered block appears with the excess amount and a year-by-year MACRS-versus-ADS table.
The Recovery Information card
An Intangible / Capitalized Cost asset gets a second card under the depreciation panel, headed Recovery Information, with a green Complete schedule or amber Needs review chip. It lists the original cost, the recovery for the tax year, the accumulated recovery and the remaining adjusted basis. Where a figure has not been determined it says so rather than showing a zero.
A grey line closes the card: "Tax conclusion:" followed by the state, then "These schedule facts do not determine capitalization, deductibility, character, gain or loss, or a target tax form." The card reports the schedule the product computed. What that means on the return is your call.
Change one thing at a time
Method, life, convention, and the elections all move the same figures. On an asset whose history you do not know, change one and recalculate. That tells you what the input was doing, which is faster than changing four and reasoning backwards.
An asset showing $0 with an amber banner
An import that could not supply a cost or a date leaves the asset excluded from depreciation, with a banner at the top of the page: "Excluded from depreciation — unresolved import issue".
Enter the missing values in the form, then click Save & mark resolved on the banner. It saves your fix first, clears the exclusion, and recomputes. If the asset still has no method or no recovery period, it tells you to assign a MACRS class first and stops.