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Depreciation Calculator
Depreciation spreads the cost of an asset over the years you use it. Enter the cost, the salvage value and the useful life, pick one of three standard methods, and get the first-year expense plus a year-by-year schedule of depreciation, accumulated depreciation and book value.
- Book value after year 1
- $41,000.00
- Year 1 rate
- 20%
- Total depreciable amount
- $45,000.00
- Book value at the end
- $5,000.00
Depreciation schedule
| Year | Depreciation | Accumulated | Book value |
|---|
Saved setups
Save a set of inputs you reuse — your usual rate, your loan, your room sizes — and load it back in one tap.
Your recent calculations
Results you calculate here are kept on this device so you can come back to them.
Formula
How to use it
- Enter what the asset cost, including delivery and installation.
- Enter its expected salvage value at the end of its life.
- Enter its useful life in whole years.
- Choose a method and read the schedule below the results.
Worked examples
A $50,000 machine with a $5,000 salvage value over 5 years, straight-line
- Total depreciable amount
- $45,000.00
- Depreciation in year 1
- $9,000.00
- Book value after year 1
- $41,000.00
- Year 1 rate
- 20%
- Book value at the end
- $5,000.00
The same machine with double-declining balance
- Depreciation in year 1
- $20,000.00
- Book value after year 1
- $30,000.00
- Year 1 rate
- 40%
- Book value at the end
- $5,000.00
The same machine with sum-of-the-years’-digits
- Depreciation in year 1
- $15,000.00
- Book value after year 1
- $35,000.00
- Year 1 rate
- 33.33%
- Book value at the end
- $5,000.00
The three methods compared
Take a $50,000 machine with a $5,000 salvage value and a 5-year life. Straight-line charges the same $9,000 every year. Sum-of-the-years’-digits charges $15,000, $12,000, $9,000, $6,000 and $3,000 — fractions of 5/15, 4/15 and so on down to 1/15. Double-declining balance charges 40% of the remaining book value: $20,000, $12,000, $7,200, $4,320 and a final $1,480 to land on the salvage value.
All three depreciate the same $45,000 in total. The accelerated methods simply put more of it in the early years, which suits assets such as vehicles and computers that lose value fastest when new.
How this calculator treats double-declining balance
The declining-balance rate is applied to book value, not to cost minus salvage, so salvage value only matters as a floor. Depreciation stops when book value reaches salvage, and the final year takes whatever remains so that the schedule ends exactly on the salvage value. Some accountants instead switch to straight-line partway through; the total is the same.
Book depreciation is not tax depreciation
These are financial-reporting methods. US tax returns generally use MACRS, which sets its own recovery periods and percentages, ignores salvage value and applies a half-year convention; first-year expensing rules can also apply. Other countries have their own capital allowance systems. This is an estimate, not tax or accounting advice.
Questions people ask
How do you calculate straight-line depreciation?
Subtract salvage value from cost and divide by the useful life. A $10,000 asset with a $1,000 salvage value over 5 years depreciates by $1,800 a year.
What is the double-declining balance rate?
Twice the straight-line rate: 2 ÷ useful life. For a 5-year asset it is 40% of the book value each year; for a 10-year asset, 20%.
What is salvage value?
The amount you expect to sell or scrap the asset for at the end of its useful life. It is the part of the cost that is never depreciated. Use 0 if the asset will be worthless.
Which depreciation method should I use?
Straight-line is the simplest and by far the most common for financial statements. Accelerated methods fit assets that lose most of their usefulness early. For tax, you must use the method the tax rules prescribe.