BobKamman
Level 15

No, but I don't disagree either.  It's like asking what's the sound of one hand clapping.  Were there two different contracts, maybe with two different companies, for removal and then installation?  Even then, where did one job end and the other begin?

I try to stay away from commercial-building depreciation questions.  A few months ago my new landlord said they would be sending around someone to inspect my office for purposes of figuring component depreciation (they recently bought the place because it's in an OZ).  They could have asked me to count the doors and measure the carpeting, but maybe that doesn't cut the mustard with IRS.  Anyway, they never showed up.  Maybe they figured their losses are big enough already.  Maybe your taxpayer's losses are big enough already -- are you sure you want to deduct those costs, just to have more depreciation to recapture later?

In any case, these aren't telephone poles, so don't count on that analogy.