I landscaped a 40 foot x 7 foot walkway on the side of my house(where I house hack) in 2024. There were planter boxes that were falling apart and a gravel walkway. I took out the existing planter boxes and made new ones, changing the layout, and poured some new gravel to make the walkway more weed resistant and add drainage. The whole project cost about $2000-$3,000.
Since this project was simply replacing planter boxes and adding gravel to an already graveled area (I did change the layout)... I am wondering if I can claim it as a repair(counting against rental income) or if it must be claimed as an asset (with depreciation benefits)? Perhaps there are some advantages to claiming it as an asset that I am not seeing? It's a small project and I THINK I would prefer this falls under a repair. Thoughts on ways to optimize this for federal tax purposes? I want to be legal but it feels a little ambitious where this falls.
In my opinion, since the tax code is open to interpretation, I interpret as much of my costs as repairs unless something obviously falls into the definition of asset. A new furnace is an asset. A new blower motor in a furnace is a repair. I would definitely call what you did maintenance and repair. Like you mentioned, the planter boxes were already there, the gravel walkway was already there, worn out, in need of work. You did not add an asset to the property.