what is depreciation recapture 
depreciation recapture is a provision of the tax law that requires businesses or individuals that make a profit in selling an asset that they have previously depreciated to report it as income in effect the amount of money they claimed in depreciation is subtracted from the cost basis they use to determine their gain in the transaction recapture can be common in real estate transactions where a property that has been depreciated for tax purposes such as an apartment building has gained in value over time 