Depreciate an asset and read the schedule
Straight-line and declining-balance depreciation from cost, salvage, and life — the annual schedule and remaining book value.
Tools used in this guide
The job
An asset loses value over its useful life. Straight-line spreads the loss evenly; declining balance front-loads it. Both produce an annual expense and a remaining book value for each year.
Choose a method
Enter cost, salvage value, and life in years. Pick straight-line or declining balance — the declining rate is the annual percentage applied to each year's opening book value (40% reproduces double-declining over a 5-year life). The table lists each year's expense and ending book value.
- Straight-line expense is (cost − salvage) ÷ life, the same every year.
- Declining balance applies the rate to the remaining book value and stops at salvage value.
Worked example
A $10,000 machine, $1,000 salvage, 5 years: straight-line charges $1,800 per year. At a 40% declining rate it charges $4,000 in year one, $2,400 in year two, and so on until book value reaches salvage.
Where it stops
It produces a model schedule, not tax advice — it does not know local depreciation law, mid-year conventions, bonus depreciation, or units-of-production. Life is capped at 100 years and cost at 1e12. Book value never drops below salvage.