Doing a Rehab, How are improvements captured for taxes?

[Fred Mejias]

I just bought a property that I intend on renting. I am rehabbing it now and I am curious how my expenses for the improvement are captured on my taxes? I ask because I previous asked a question about W9 and 1099 and I am getting conflicting information. It seems that if I did this work as a business than I would need W9 from all contractors and would issue 1099 to all contractors. However, as an individual, am I issuing W9 and 1099 to contractor's or are these expenses just marked as rental expenses or possibly added to increasing the depreciation value through improvements? Some insight would be great.  I just started out so I am trying to figure this all out so I know where to keep this information for my records.  An please don't just say get a CPA, I know I need to find one.  I didn't want that from hindering me form getting started.  Thanks for all your help, BP!!