Files
wanderbooks/docs/spec/sources/irs-depreciation.md
T
swaitsandClaude Opus 5.5 ad572ae89d docs(spec): every rule traced to an authority; public-domain sources vendored
Stephen asked that specs come from recognized documents, not from
anyone's memory. There is no single US bookkeeping bible; authority is
layered, and this records it:

- docs/spec/sources/: verbatim excerpts (whitespace normalized), each
  with URL, retrieval date, and the SHA-256 of the fetched file, of
  public-domain texts: Pacioli's 1494 treatise in Geijsbeek's 1914
  translation (double entry, the trial balance, one money, write only
  forward, correct by opposite entry, close into capital); IRS Pub. 583,
  538, 946, 15; the 1099-MISC/NEC instructions (2025 and 2026); 26 U.S.C.
  §6041, §6041A, §704; Treas. Reg. §1.263(a)-1(f) and -4(f); Notice
  2015-82; Rev. Proc. 98-25; Form 1065 instructions; 17 U.S.C. §105. The
  excerpts were extracted by matching each passage against the fetched
  file, so none can contain text the source doesn't.
- docs/spec/rules.md: the rule catalog, B-1 to B-22. Each rule says
  AUTHORITY, CONVENTION, or DECISION; cites its sources (FASB's
  Codification and Concepts Statement 8 and OpenStax quoted briefly,
  never copied: copyright and CC BY-NC-SA); and names the code that
  enforces it and the tests and proofs that check it.
- Spec blocks in the code now carry SOURCE: lines into the catalog;
  AGENTS.md makes sourcing rule 0 of the formal-methods bar.

Corrections the sources turned up: the de minimis limit is $500 in the
regulation and $2,500 by Notice 2015-82 (both now cited); 1099
thresholds after 2026 are inflation-indexed, so the engine's flat
$2,000 for 2027+ is an open question (B-19). Unverified ASC paragraphs
(360-10-35-4, 340-10, 230-10-45-10, 606-10-55-37B, 210) are listed in
docs/spec/README.md until someone with a FASB basic-view login reads
them.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01GWVo7x3UHw5kwCUaWxiejX
2026-10-13 12:18:57 -06:00

1.5 KiB

Depreciation conventions (tax)

IRS Publication 946 (2025). wanderbooks depreciates on the book basis (straight line, prorated by days for partial months); tax depreciation stays with the CPA. These are the tax conventions the book method is distinct from.

IRS Publication 946

Source: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p946
Retrieved: 2026-10-13
SHA-256 of the retrieved file (p946.txt): b86506e17ebbb3ab4a920ad9ded15da9327e85a61ebede243031d152a5283134

Conventions

Under MACRS, averaging conventions establish when the recovery period begins and ends. The convention you use determines the number of months for which you can claim depreciation in the year you place property in service and in the year you dispose of the property.

Mid-month

Under this convention, you treat all property placed in service or disposed of during a month as placed in service or disposed of at the midpoint of the month. This means that a one-half month of depreciation is allowed for the month the property is placed in service or disposed of.

Straight line rate

You determine the straight line depreciation rate for any tax year by dividing the number 1 by the years remaining in the recovery period at the beginning of that year. When figuring the number of years remaining, you must take into account the convention used in the year you placed the property in service. If the number of years remaining is less than 1, the depreciation rate for that tax year is 1.0 (100%).