Schedule C · Business
A depreciation tracker that enforces the §179 caps.
Depreciation is how you write off a business asset — a laptop, a tool, a vehicle — over time instead of all at once. Section 179 lets you expense much of it in year one; MACRS spreads the rest over a set schedule. GlidePath tracks your assets and runs both — and unlike a spreadsheet, it enforces the Section 179 dollar and income limits, so you don’t book a first-year deduction the IRS won’t actually allow.
The dedicated tool for this is usually a spreadsheet — or a subscription built for a bookkeeper.
Search for a depreciation tracker and you mostly find IRS worksheets, tax-prep explainers, or a full accounting suite meant for someone else’s books.
For one self-employed person with a handful of assets, that’s overkill on one side and error-prone on the other — a hand-rolled spreadsheet happily lets you expense more than the law allows. GlidePath is the middle path: a desktop app that keeps the asset list and does the Section 179 and MACRS math with the guardrails built in. Your asset file stays local, the installed version keeps working, and no bookkeeper is required.
What it does — and where it draws the line.
Section 179, with the caps applied
First-year expensing up to the annual dollar cap, reduced by the investment phase-out, and held to your business income so it can’t create a phantom Schedule C loss. Anything the income limit holds back is shown as a carryforward (Form 4562) rather than silently dropped.
MACRS 5- and 7-year
The standard schedules for most equipment and machinery, using the IRS Pub 946 half-year tables — including the half-year handling in the year you dispose of an asset, so a sold asset doesn’t show a misleading leftover basis.
Straight into Schedule C
The total lands on Schedule C Line 13 and goes into the accountant-pack export. If you also log mileage on a vehicle you’re depreciating, it flags the possible double-dip — the standard mileage rate already includes depreciation.
It does the common case — not every case. And it says which.
The honest part: this covers straightforward Section 179 and MACRS. It does not try to be your whole tax return.
It doesn’t compute bonus depreciation (§168k), per-asset business-use percentages for mixed-use property, or depreciation recapture when you sell at a gain (Form 4797) — and where one of those is likely to matter, it says so in plain English and points you to your CPA. The goal is a tracker you can trust for the everyday case and that’s honest about its edges, not a black box that quietly guesses. It calculates and organizes; your CPA confirms and files.
Track depreciation without renting an accounting suite.
$199 desktop license for Personal + Business — the tier with the Schedule C toolkit. Your asset list stays in a plain file on your own computer.
GlidePath calculates and organizes the numbers — it isn’t tax advice. Depreciation has situational rules; for your specific assets and return, confirm with a CPA.
Depreciation tracker questions
Does GlidePath calculate MACRS and Section 179 depreciation?
Yes. It tracks each business asset and runs Section 179 first-year expensing and MACRS 5- and 7-year schedules using the IRS Pub 946 half-year tables, including the half-year handling in the year you dispose of an asset.
Can it stop me from over-claiming Section 179?
It holds Section 179 to the annual dollar cap, the investment phase-out, and your business income, so it can't book a first-year deduction the IRS won't allow. Anything the income limit holds back is shown as a carryforward (Form 4562) rather than silently dropped.
Where does the depreciation total go on my taxes?
The total flows to Schedule C Line 13 and into the accountant-pack export. GlidePath calculates and organizes the numbers — it isn't tax advice; confirm your specific assets and return with a CPA.