Tag Archives: Acquisistion Date

How to Prepare Your Annual Business Property Statement

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Many local and state government agencies require that you file an annual business property statement. This statement shows the total original cost of all acquisitions for each year. In addition to year of acquisition, these costs are filtered by the taxing authority (city, county) and grouped by asset type (machinery, computers, furniture, etc.). Here is a sample of the basic format:

This statement can be run for each of the required taxing authorities. For instance, you could set a filter to select only the assets in a particular city or county. You could then repeat this process for any other taxing authorities to get the associated totals.

Preparing an annual property statement doesn’t have to be complicated. In Bassets eDepreciation you can select the key columns:

  • Taxing Authority
  • Acquisition Date
  • Asset Type (or General Ledger code)
  • Purchase Price

These values can then be easily exported to an Excel spreadsheet to be summarized using the year of acquisition. Alternatively, you could define a two level sort definition (acquisition date, asset type) to group and total the cost in a report. It would then just be a matter of running the report with a filter set for each of your different taxing authorities. Either way, we can assist you in preparing the necessary information for your annual business property statements.

Questions or comments about this post? We invite you to respond in the space below.

More information about Bassets eDepreciation software can be found at Bassets.net. While there you can set up a demonstration, download a free evaluation copy and get a personalized pricing estimate.

Asset Acquisition Report

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Asset Acquisition Reporting will be the topic of our fourth depreciation reporting post.
This report displays all of the assets acquired between the selected period begin and end dates.  The selected periods can be:

  • A single month
  • 3 months or a quarter
  • 6 months or half the year
  • 12 months or the entire year
  • Any number of months to show year-to-date

When constructing an asset acquisition report, the columns of the report should include:

  1. Asset Number – unique asset identifier
  2. Description
  3. General Ledger Code – associated G/L code for this acquisition
  4. Acquisition Date  – the date when the asset was acquired
  5. Cost – purchase price of the asset

Here you can view a sample asset acquisition report to see what one generally looks like (click the image for a larger, clearer view):

Fixed Asset Reporting - Asset Acquisition Report

This report is typically run with filtering to select a subset of acquisitions.  It can then be used to review all purchases for a specific period or periods for a given entity.  An example would be, all the purchases in the first quarter for the sales department.

For more information on depreciation reporting, take a look at a few other posts addressing the subject.  Also, if there is anything that you would like more information on, or should you have any questions, please ask us below or on the questions page.

More information about Bassets eDepreciation software can be found at Bassets.net. While there you can set up a demonstration, download a free evaluation copy and get a personalized pricing estimate.

Important Accounting Dates for Fixed Assets

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There are three critical dates for each individual fixed asset.  These dates establish when the asset was acquired, placed in service, and the start of depreciation.  These three dates are listed below:

  1. Acquisition Date – the date the asset was purchased.
  2. Service Date – IRS rules define when an asset is placed in service and depreciation of the asset may begin.  An asset is considered to be placed in service when it is first put into a condition or state of readiness and availability for a specifically assigned function.
  3. Depreciation Date – the date used to begin calculating depreciation.  This is usually the same as the Service Date, but can be different.  Most organizations will also use the same depreciation date for all of their schedules.  Others will sometimes use a different starting date for Tax versus Internal Financial Book.
Monthly calendar

Accounting Dates

In addition to the asset dates, there are several dates that impact the actual calculated values.  These dates can be changed to match your current, past or future accounting period or periods.

  • Tax Year – determined by the ending date for the calendar tax year.  For many organizations this will be December 31, but others will end their year in different months.
  • Current Accounting Period – determined by the beginning and ending dates of the depreciation period.  The accounting period may for one or more periods or a full year.

A very important calculation concept is the “as of” date.  When running reports, the “as of” date is the close of a particular accounting period.  This will impact the calculated values of Prior, Current, Total Depreciation and Net Book Value for each asset as explained below:

  • Prior Accumulated Depreciation – the amount of accumulated depreciation before the current accounting period.
  • Current Period Depreciation – the amount of depreciation calculated for the current accounting period.
  • Total Depreciation – the sum of prior accumulated and current period depreciation.
  • Net Book Balance – the unamortized balance through the Depreciation Period End date.  This is calculated by subtracting total depreciation from the cost basis.

There are other important dates for transfers, disposals and other asset activity that we will cover in future posts.  If you have any questions about the key dates for fixed assets or calculating depreciation, leave them in the comments or on our questions page.

More information about Bassets eDepreciation software can be found at Bassets.net. While there you can set up a demonstration, download a free evaluation copy and get a personalized pricing estimate.

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