re: New Accountant Needs Help: § 179 Depreciation Deduction

There is so much missing information that all you are going to get are suggestions rather than a definitive answer. What is your goal? Do you want to maximize deductions for your client? If so, then you can possibly claim Section 179 expense for the entire cost of the truck. As long as the truck weighs more than 6,000 lbs and the interior length of the bed is at least 6 ft you are not limited to $25,000 of Section 179 expense.

Your boss is being a dick by asking you to prepare a depreciation schedule. That is what the Form 4562 features of your tax prep software are for. Most accountants enter the depreciation information and let the software do the calculations. Then they determine the adjusting journal entries to account for any book to tax differences. It's a matter of efficiency.

You appear to have everything entered properly except for the Sec 179 limit. You want to let the software know that you are eligible for the 50% bonus depreciation and that your method would be MACRS 5yr with the mid-quarter convention applying. This will allow the software to determine any Sec. 179 recapture should the truck be disposed of within its recovery period.