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Common questions about Form 4797 in Lacerte
by Intuit•1• Updated 5 months ago
This article will help you with frequently asked questions about Form 4797 in Lacerte.
Table of contents:
Why isn't my sale flowing to Form 4797?
Check your Informational diagnostics and review any that refer to a disposition or depreciable asset. These will alert you if a disposition is being ignored or not producing a 4797 for common reasons, like a sale date that falls after the end of the tax year.
Asset sales are reported on Form 4797 Part III only if the sale results in a gain.
For individual and corporate returns
If the asset was entered on the depreciation screen:
- Go to Screen 22, Depreciation and select the asset.
- Scroll to the Additional Information section.
- Make sure there is not a 1 in 1 = delete this year, 2 = delete next year. If a 1 is entered, the program will ignore the asset.
- Scroll down to the General Disposition Information section.
- Verify the date entered in Date sold, disposed, or retired.
- Make sure the date falls within the year for which you're preparing this return.
- Verify you have an entry in Sales price.
If the asset was entered on the dispositions screen:
- Go to Screen 17, Dispositions and select the asset.
- Verify all of the required fields have been completed:
- Description of property
- Date acquired
- Date sold
- Sales price
- Cost or other basis
- Depreciation allowed
- Scroll to the Form 4797 section.
- Verify an amount is entered in Depreciation allowed (-1=none, triggers 4797).
For partnership and S corporate returns
If there is prior section 179 on the asset(s), the information will print as a separately stated item on the Schedule K/K-1 in the other information section and will not flow to Form 4797.
How do I enter a K-1 disposition for line 10?
- Go to Screen 20, Passthrough K-1s.
- Select the K-1 activity.
- Scroll down to Line 11 - Other Income for a 1065 K-1, or Line 10 - Other Income for an S corp K-1.
- Enter the amount in Ordinary gain (loss) to be reported on 4797, line 10 or Passive ordinary gain (loss) to be reported on 4797, line 10.
Where do I enter recapture when business use drops under 50% for Part IV?
- Go to Screen 17, Dispositions.
- Click on the Carryovers/Misc button.
- Scroll down to the Form 4797 section.
- Locate the Recapture 50% or Less Business Use heading.
- Enter the amount you want to print on line 33(a) in Section 179 expense deduction.
- Enter the amount you want to print on line 34(a) in Depreciation allowable.
Lacerte will generate a diagnostic reminding you that income from the recapture must be manually entered as other income on the form or schedule that originally took the deduction. See Troubleshooting diagnostic ref. 2025063 – Recapture amounts from Form 4797, Part IV for more info.
How do I report business bad debt?
- Go to Screen 17, Dispositions
- Enter the applicable information regarding the sale (Description, date acquired, date sold, sales price, cost or basis)
- Scroll down to the Form 4797 section
- Enter an amount of prior deprecation or -1 in the field labeled Deprecation Allowed (-1 = none, triggers 4797).
Where do you enter Sale of Section 1244 Stock for an Individual return?
Section 1244 Stock is entered in the Disposition screen:
- Enter the sale information as you would for a normal stock sale in Screen 17, Dispositions.
- Check the box Section 1244 stock in the Schedule D section.
Note: Losses carry to Form 4797, Part II. Gains carry to Schedule D. The program limits section 1244 stock losses to the acceptable IRS limits on an activity-by-activity basis. If you enter multiple section 1244 losses, the program does not limit the aggregate. You must apply this limitation manually.