I have a rental suite (attached to my house) which I use for short term rentals (ie. Air BnB). I purchased this house in January 2016. I have no idea how to apply for CCA - which class to use? And what "UCC Start Year" means. Would Class 1 just be the square footage percentage of the suite as a percentage of the cost of my home? And then what about UCC? So confused... My first time doing this...
A lot can depend on when it was built, how it was built and how it is attached to the house. Class 1 is a safe bet, but before you can take depreciation on it, you have to put a value on it that is unrelated to the land it is sitting on. Land is not depreciable. You might find a separation between building value and land value on your property tax assessment. If so, you would take only the building portion and then apportion it again according to the square footage of the rental unit divided by the total of the house and rental square footage to get an approximate value of the rental unit. So, original cost of your property minus the land assessment and the house percentage and the rental percentage used to calculate a value.
Another thing to consider is the approximate usage of the rental unit. If it is in use as a rental year round and rarely empty, you could add the entire value of the rental as an asset and take depreciation. If it is only rented a few times per year, you will have to pro-rate the value based on usage.
At only 2% the first year, per the half year rule, and 4% thereafter, you would have to ask yourself if it is worth it to you.
A lot can depend on when it was built, how it was built and how it is attached to the house. Class 1 is a safe bet, but before you can take depreciation on it, you have to put a value on it that is unrelated to the land it is sitting on. Land is not depreciable. You might find a separation between building value and land value on your property tax assessment. If so, you would take only the building portion and then apportion it again according to the square footage of the rental unit divided by the total of the house and rental square footage to get an approximate value of the rental unit. So, original cost of your property minus the land assessment and the house percentage and the rental percentage used to calculate a value.
Another thing to consider is the approximate usage of the rental unit. If it is in use as a rental year round and rarely empty, you could add the entire value of the rental as an asset and take depreciation. If it is only rented a few times per year, you will have to pro-rate the value based on usage.
At only 2% the first year, per the half year rule, and 4% thereafter, you would have to ask yourself if it is worth it to you.