Lists of Deductible Repairs and Capital Improvements

Over the years various expenditures have come under review by the IRS and the courts. The following lists, 1 of deductible repairs and the other of improvements that must be capitalized, are based on actual cases and rulings.

DEDUCTIBLE REPAIRS

• Altering building for street-widening program
• Caulking seams
• Replacing compressor for air conditioner
• Replacing copper sheeting for cornice (blown off by wind)
• Relining basement walls and floors with cement
• Cleaning a restaurant canopy
• Cutting and filling cracks in storage tanks
• Tuck pointing and cleaning exterior brick walls
• Adding timbers to support walkway over basement
• Mending plaster walls and ceilings
• Painting walls and ceiling over basement
• Papering walls
• Patching a leaking roof
• Relocating steam pipes and radiators
• Resurfacing floors
• Repairing sidewalks
• Shoring up building foundation
• Replacing retaining walls
• Repairing gutters

CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS

• Installing new doors
• Installing new windows
• Replacing a coal burner with an oil burner heating system
• Installing skylights
• Installing fire escapes
• Replacing a roof
• Adding new floor supports
• Replacing iron piping with brass piping in hot water system
• Raising, lowering, or building new floors
• Erecting permanent partitions
• Installing fire sprinklers
• Bricking up windows
• Installing an air-conditioning system
• Installing a ventilation system
• Rewiring or upgrading electrical service
• Replacing windows and doors
• Expanding a building (building an addition)
• Installing a burglar alarm system
• Blacktopping a driveway
• Improving a storefront
• Adding new plumbing fixtures
• Constructing a drainage system