Landscape lighting Cost Segregation: Report review questions

Start with the actual landscape lighting

Distinguish site lighting from lighting that supports the building. Document dedicated circuits and installation costs instead of assuming all decorative lighting is personal property.

For this review, identify standalone fixtures, transformers, buried wiring, building lighting, and mounting. The objective is to describe the property accurately enough that the analyst can distinguish separate assets and shared work. Record any difference between acquisition condition and the current installation.

Report review questions workflow

Review the asset description before examining its recovery period. A classification can look precise while describing the wrong physical item. Compare report quantities and locations with the owner inventory and supporting photographs. For material entries, ask whether the cost comes from actual records, a quantity estimate, or an allocation, and how the approach reconciles to the total analyzed basis.

Use a written issue log for missing records, inconsistent quantities, unexplained assumptions, and disagreements. Ask the provider to identify the affected rows and issue a dated correction when appropriate. Preserve both the original and final versions. The return preparer should receive the final report and any explanation that changes implemented depreciation, rather than relying on an earlier spreadsheet forwarded during drafting.

Details that matter for landscape lighting

Make a fixture count by location and type. Record whether lights use a dedicated transformer or share the building's electrical distribution. A supplier invoice for fixtures may not include trenching, cable, or controls. Ask for those installation records where material. Fixtures mounted on the house should be distinguished from ground-mounted garden lights. A nighttime photograph can demonstrate location but usually does not show wiring or attachment. Keep a daylight overview and model information with it to make the equipment identifiable.

Evidence to collect for landscape lighting

Start with lighting schedule, circuit diagram, installation invoice, and nighttime location photographs. Keep the original records and mark which portions of the component or project each document supports. An unexplained total should remain an open question rather than be divided into invented amounts.

A hypothetical landscape lighting evidence problem

A lighting project combines garden fixtures with replacement of house exterior floodlights.

The unresolved question is: Can the report reviewer trace the component quantity and supported cost back to this installation? Give the reviewer the underlying records and identify the uncertainty explicitly. This example illustrates an evidence issue; it does not assign a tax life, estimate a deduction, or describe a completed Stratum client engagement.

Finish this review before implementation

List each unresolved report row and obtain a final dated version before the preparer implements it.

The study supplies property evidence and proposed classifications. The return analysis determines applicable depreciation methods, any bonus eligibility, loss limitations, state adjustments, and disposition consequences. Agree who resolves each outstanding issue and keep the accepted records with the final report.