📉Depreciation Calculator

About this tool

Pick a method, enter the asset's cost, salvage value and useful life — plus the declining factor, or total units and units used per year — and get a year-by-year schedule of depreciation, accumulated depreciation and book value, ready to download as CSV.

Choosing a depreciation method

Depreciation spreads the cost of a long-lived asset over the years it helps earn revenue. Straight-line is the simplest and most common: (cost − salvage) ÷ useful life, the same every year — a 30,000 van with a 3,000 salvage value over five years depreciates 5,400 a year. Accelerated methods charge more early, matching assets that lose value or usefulness fastest when new: declining balance applies a fixed rate to the remaining book value (double-declining uses twice the straight-line rate, 40% for a five-year asset) and switches to straight-line when that gives a larger charge, so the book value finishes exactly at salvage; sum-of-the-years'-digits multiplies the depreciable base by the remaining life over the sum of the years (5/15 in year one, 9,000 in the example). Units of production ties each year's charge to actual use, which suits machinery and vehicles measured in hours or miles. Book value is cost minus accumulated depreciation. Tax depreciation follows separate rules — MACRS in the US, capital allowances in the UK — so use these schedules for management and financial accounts and ask an accountant about tax. Not tax or accounting advice. The NPV calculator evaluates the purchase, the ROI calculator the return, and the break-even calculator the volume needed.

Frequently asked questions