How to track depreciations for improvements in different years?

Thanks for posting this asset depreciation management concern here in our community for QuickBooks, Charlie.

I can share some insights on how you can handle this in your QuickBooks Desktop account. If you are using  QuickBooks Enterprise, Desktop Premier Accountant, and Enterprise Accountant, we have a tool called Fixed Asset Manager to help calculate your depreciation. See this link for the steps on setting up Fixed Asset Manager.

If you have a different service, we have separate process for you. I'm adding the steps below for you.

Set up an asset account to track depreciation:

1. Create a fixed asset account for each asset (or group of assets) you want to depreciate. The account can represent either a single asset or a group of related assets.
    
   1. Make the account type “Fixed Asset.”
   2. Give each account a name that indicates which asset(s) it is tracking, for example, building.
   3. Leave the opening balance at 0.00.
       
2. Add two subaccounts to each asset account you created. One subaccount tracks the cost of the asset, the other tracks accumulated depreciation.
    
   1. Each main account must have two subaccounts.
   2. Name the first subaccount something like “Cost” and the second subaccount something like “Accumulated Depreciation.” In your chart of accounts, these names will help you distinguish the two subaccounts.
   3. For the Cost subaccount, enter the original cost of the asset in the Opening Balance field. Enter the date you purchased the asset in the As of field.
   4. For the Accumulated Depreciation subaccount, type 0.00 as the opening balance if you acquired the asset after your QuickBooks start date. If you acquired the asset before the start date, enter instead the accumulated depreciation of the asset AS OF the start date. Enter this amount as a negative number.
       
3. Create an expense account to track depreciation expense. Give the account a name like “Depreciation Expense.”

You can enter the depreciation amount in the register or use a journal entry to record the depreciated amount.

As always, we do recommend consulting an accountant first for help with accounting for your depreciation. We are here to guide you with general QuickBooks concerns, but we can't provide in-depth accounting advices for your business. It is best to reach out with a professional who will help you with this topic to ensure your books are correct at the end of the year.

For other questions or concerns about this assets and depreciation management in QuickBooks Desktop, post here again. You can also mention me in your posts to get me notified of your reply. Have a nice start of the week!

Shortest solution: you need to add a fixed asset account for each improvement. They each have their own depreciation schedule separate from the property itself. 

As to tracking Accumulated Depreciation separately for each asset depends on where you track the actual depreciation. If done outside QB in a spreadsheet or different software you do not need a separate Accumulated Depreciation account for each asset. In fact your balance sheet can get cumbersome with all those sub accounts