Depreciation of vehicle when converting use from personal to business

[etiennevb]

Hi Everyone,

I am trying to figure this out:

Purchased new car on 12/01/2012 for $65,000, for personal use. I assume that this is the "in service date"
Started a business on 5/1/2016, without any use of the car, personal nor business (not sure if this is relevant)
Started another business on 8/1/2016, from then on business use of the car is 100%.
Fair market value of the car on 8/1/2016 (KellyBlueBook) is $37,000.

Am I correct in the following assumptions?:
1. I cannot use section 179 deduction, because the in service date is in a year prior to its first business use.
2. I cannot use any special depreciation allowance, because business use in 2016 started after the first half of the year, so business use for the year cannot be 50% or more for the year, even though business use is 100% since business started.
3. I cannot use MACS method of depreciation for the same reason (<50% business use in first year of business depreciation).
4. I should use straight line method of depreciation.
5. I should depreciate the car over 5 years (60 months) starting 8/1/2016, based on FMV value of $37,000, even if it is not likely that the car will have such a useful life (it is already 44 months old when it starts to be used for business).


How should I depreciate the car for use in the business started on 8/1/2016?
How would I determine the future residual value for depreciation calculation?

Thanks much.

[tallen]

Is your business a sole proprietorship, a S-Corp, C-Corp, or LLC?

Who now owns the title to the car, you or your business corporate entity?

[Freelancier]

I'm not sure I would go down the path you're going.

Since the company doesn't own the car, I would take the maximum per-mile deductible for every mile driven in the car for business. That's a direct expense deduction for your business AND cash in your pocket (as opposed to a depreciation schedule that is just a reduction in your company tax owed).

IANAA. You should have one to get an answer to this question that matches YOUR specific situation.

[etiennevb]

The company is an LLC, disregarded entity. The car title is in my personal name. My objective is tax reduction; mileage is quite low, the standard deduction would not get me much either.