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Straight-line depreciation

Depreciation Calculator

Spread an asset's depreciable cost across its useful life. See the annual expense, monthly estimate, and remaining book value for each year.

Enter an asset's cost and useful life

The starting cost to allocate. Enter a positive amount in your chosen currency.

Estimated residual value at the end of use. Enter 0 if none; it cannot exceed the cost.

A whole number from 1 to 50. The schedule uses full years, not calendar dates.

Use the same currency for both amounts, without its symbol. Amounts accept up to 2 decimal places. Use a period for decimals; properly grouped commas such as 10,000 are accepted.

Example: cost 10,000, salvage 1,000, useful life 5 years.

Annual straight-line expense

Enter cost, salvage value, and useful life, then select Calculate.

Amounts use hundredths of one currency. ≈ marks rounded estimates. Press Enter to calculate. Successful results appear in this tab's Recent calculations.

Worked examples

Annual allocation

A 10,000 asset with 1,000 salvage

(10,000 − 1,000) ÷ 5 = 1,800

Over a five-year life, allocate 1,800.00 per year. The monthly estimate is 150.00. Book value ends at 8,200.00 after year one and at 1,000.00 after year five.

Cent reconciliation

Allocate 100.00 across three years

100 ÷ 3 = 33.333…

With zero salvage, the annual estimate is ≈ 33.33. The schedule expenses are 33.33, 33.34, and 33.33, which total exactly 100.00 and leave a final book value of 0.00.

No depreciable balance

Cost and salvage both equal 500

(500 − 500) ÷ 5 = 0

This model has no amount to allocate. Annual and monthly depreciation are both 0.00, and book value remains 500.00 throughout the schedule.

Formulas and rounding

Let C be asset cost, S salvage value, and n useful life in whole years. Straight-line depreciation distributes the depreciable amount evenly before rounding:

Depreciable amount = C − S
Annual expense = (C − S) ÷ n
Monthly estimate = (C − S) ÷ (12 × n)

In the unrounded model, accumulated depreciation after year k is k × (C − S) ÷ n, and book value is C minus that amount. The monthly estimate is calculated from the exact annual amount rather than from the already rounded annual display.

For the displayed schedule, cumulative depreciation is rounded to the nearest hundredth at each year end, with halfway amounts rounded up. A year's expense is the difference between its cumulative value and the preceding year's cumulative value. This choice keeps each row consistent and ensures the last book value equals the salvage value exactly. Some yearly expenses can differ by 0.01 even though the underlying straight-line expense is constant.

The annual and monthly headline figures are rounded independently to 2 decimal places; ≈ identifies a changed value. Twelve times the displayed monthly estimate may not equal the displayed annual expense. The monthly figure is a comparison aid, not a posting schedule, an invoice amount, or a calculation for dates in a partial year. Schedule values follow the cumulative rounding rule explained above rather than each being independently rounded from an unrounded book value.

Amounts may have up to 15 digits before the decimal point and 2 after it. Each field accepts at most 64 characters. Useful life must be an integer from 1 to 50; decimal notation such as 5.0 is accepted when its value is a whole number. Blank salvage is not treated as zero: enter 0 explicitly. Expressions, currency symbols, incorrectly grouped commas, and scientific notation are rejected.

This is a full-year straight-line model in one currency with 100 minor units per unit. It does not model declining-balance methods, MACRS or other tax schedules, acquisition dates, partial-year conventions, changes in estimates, impairment, revaluation, or disposal. Book value here is an accounting allocation, not a prediction of a resale price. Choose your own valid inputs under the rules that apply to your situation.

Reference: OpenStax — Explain and Apply Depreciation Methods to Allocate Capitalized Costs describes straight-line depreciation using cost, salvage value, and useful life. The cent-by-cent cumulative allocation in this calculator is its stated display policy, not a claim that every accounting system uses the same rounding method.

Common questions

Is salvage value the same as current market value?

No. Here, salvage is the estimated amount remaining at the end of the asset's useful life. Current market value is a separate estimate. This calculator does not use market data.

Why can yearly expenses differ by one cent?

Some depreciable amounts cannot be divided into equal whole hundredths over the chosen life. Rounding the cumulative total and taking yearly differences spreads those cents while preserving the total depreciation and final salvage value. The unrounded straight-line expense remains equal each year.

Can I use this as a tax depreciation schedule?

It is a general arithmetic model. Tax rules may prescribe different methods, recovery periods, deductions, and first- or last-year conventions. This calculator does not apply those rules or establish whether an asset is depreciable.

Does a zero monthly display mean there is no depreciation?

Not necessarily. A small positive expense can round to 0.00 when shown in hundredths. The result explains when that happens, and the annual schedule still allocates the complete depreciable amount by the end of the selected life.

Can I change the estimates partway through the schedule?

This tool holds cost, salvage, and useful life fixed from the start. Revising estimates after some years requires considering the remaining carrying amount and remaining useful life under the applicable accounting rules; it is outside this initial full-life schedule.