Get one real client's register in and look at computed depreciation. That is the fastest way to know whether the numbers come out where you expect.
You do not have to set up a client, an entity, and a return first. The import asks for all three and creates whichever ones do not exist yet.
Start the import
On the Dashboard, use Import assets in the page header, or Import assets for your first client in the welcome card if you have not brought in a real client yet.
The import first asks where the file is coming from:
From a spreadsheet or PDF. CSV, Excel, or PDF files. This is the path below.
From another fixed-asset system. Bring over a register from UltraTax, Lacerte, CCH, Drake, ProSeries, and more.
For a first pass with your own spreadsheet, stay on From a spreadsheet or PDF.
Point the import at a client, entity, and return
Client, entity, and return fill in one after another on the same screen. Pick or create a client and the entity field appears below it, then the same for the return. Each level you have picked stays visible as a small chip so you can see where you are.
Client. Type a name in the search box. If it is new, the list offers **Create ""**. Choose it, check the name, and press **Add**.
Entity. If the client already has one or more entities, this is the same kind of search box plus a Create entity link. If the client is brand new there is nothing to search yet, so you get an inline form instead: the entity's name, its Entity Type (S corporation is preselected), an optional EIN, and an optional state depreciation section. Press Add entity.
Return. If the entity already has returns, search by year, plus a Create return link. If it does not, you get a Tax Year field, prefilled with the prior calendar year (2025 during 2026), a State dropdown that defaults to Federal Only, and a Create return button.
Then Continue.
Upload the file
The import runs as five steps, shown as a progress rail at the top of the page: Upload, Read file, Groups, Map columns, and Review. The Groups step only opens for a file with section headings and subtotal rows. For a plain list it is ticked through with a none marker and you go straight from reading the file to mapping columns.
On the Upload step, four cards ask What kind of schedule is this?: Tax depreciation, Book / GAAP depreciation, Both tax and book, or Detect it. Your last choice is preselected (Tax the first time), so most imports need no click here. Below the cards, the drop zone takes CSV, XLSX, XLS, and PDF up to 10 MB. Drop the file on it or use Select file.
Once the file is chosen, the Read file step lists what is happening as it happens: the file opened, the header row found, the row count, and the check for grouped rows. It then hands off to Map columns on its own.
The first time you choose a PDF, a dialog names who reads it: our AI sub-processor, Anthropic (Claude). The PDF is sent in full and is not redacted first, so anything identifying printed on it goes too, and Anthropic does not train on it. CSV and Excel files are not read this way. The same dialog gives the time to expect (usually around 6 minutes for a large schedule, up to 15). Continue with this PDF starts the read and Choose a different file backs out. Once you continue, DepreciationPro remembers your answer and later PDFs go straight to the read. While a PDF is being read, the Read file step shows what is happening and offers Cancel, which returns you to the upload step.
If AI is off for your firm, PDFs cannot be read here at all. The upload step tells you so, and points you to turning AI on in Settings, uploading a CSV or Excel schedule instead, or using the Prior-Year Return import for a Form 4562 PDF (no AI needed there).
If your file came out of depreciation software, use the vendor importer instead: pick From another fixed-asset system back on the setup screen. It reads that export directly, with no AI step and no row cap.
Check the mapping
The Map Columns step opens with a proposal already in it rather than a blank form. Your file's columns are matched to DepreciationPro's fields automatically, each with a confidence badge. See What's already been done when the mapping table opens, and confirm the three required fields before you move on.
Check the review, then import
Review checks every row before anything is saved. The panel on the right counts how many rows are ready. When the file is clean it reads Everything checks out and every row carries a green dot.
A row with a problem, commonly a method or convention code your file uses that does not match DepreciationPro's own codes, shows red instead, with a suggested fix and three controls: accept the suggestion, reject it, or edit the value yourself. Rows with only advisory notes still import.
Once every row is ready, Import N assets commits them. A confirmation dialog names the tax year and the number of assets before anything is added.
Look at what landed
You arrive on the return's Assets tab with the register in a grid. Cost, Total Prior Depreciation, Current-Year Depreciation, and Beginning NBV are all columns, and the tiles above the grid total the return.
Two things worth doing before you trust it:
Sort by Status. Assets that need something from you carry a badge. See Status, and the badges the grid shows.
Open the Form 4562 tab. It computes off the register with nothing to press, and it is the quickest tie-out you have.
