Hi,
I am reading Pub 946 and I am 1/3rd done. I bought a new car (Tesla) for my schedule C business (say used ~60% in 2023 for business) for $40k. My objective is to use the maximum total depreciation of the car over the 5 years without leaving money on the table and by taking more depreciation in the later years since my business income is expected to continue to increase for the coming 4 years.
- I want to thus depreciate the car in straight line so when the income increases, my taxable business income reduces more in the later years than if I were to take higher depreciation now with 200%DB or 150%DB. Am I correct in the thinking?
- How do I tell the FreeTaxUSA software to change from 200%DB or 150%DB to SL?
- I learned in P946 that Section 179 can be taken only in the year of purchase. I want to confirm that whether I take S179 now or I don't, will the total amount depreciated of the car (assuming % use remains constant at 60% each year) over the total 5 years of depreciation will be the same. In other words, by not taking S179 now, I don't want to leave money on the table.
- Same question as #2 but for Bonus Depreciation.
- After 5 years of depreciation, the main expense for Internal Combustion Engine cars was often the gas. As I understand it, after depreciating for 5 years, I won't be able to switch from Actual to Standard. Right? In such a case, how do I use electricity rate for charging if I charge the car at home? The home electricity bill doesn't split by the amount spent for charging the car vs other usage of electricity at home.
Thanks,
