Overview
Enter an asset's cost, its estimated salvage value, and its useful life in years to calculate straight-line depreciation - the most common depreciation method, which spreads the depreciable base (cost minus salvage value) evenly across the asset's useful life: annual depreciation = (Cost − Salvage) ÷ Useful life. The tool also builds a year-by-year book value schedule showing how the asset's recorded value declines each year until it reaches the salvage value at the end of its useful life. Straight-line is the simplest and most widely used depreciation method for financial reporting because the expense is identical every year, unlike accelerated methods (such as double-declining balance) that front-load larger deductions in earlier years - this calculator covers straight-line only. Useful for accounting coursework, small-business bookkeeping, or estimating an asset's book value at a given point in its life. Runs entirely client-side, and this is an informational estimate, not tax or accounting advice.
Best for: Calculating a fixed asset's annual depreciation expense and book value over its useful life
How to use this tool
- Enter the asset cost and salvage value. The original purchase cost and the estimated value at the end of its useful life.
- Enter the useful life. The number of years the asset is expected to remain in service.
- Read the annual depreciation and schedule. The yearly depreciation expense, plus a year-by-year book value breakdown down to the salvage value.
Frequently asked questions
The tool reports an error instead of a depreciation schedule, since there would be nothing left to depreciate - straight-line depreciation only makes sense when the asset is expected to lose some value over its useful life.
Straight-line is the most commonly used method and the easiest to verify by hand, spreading the depreciable base evenly across the useful life. Accelerated methods like double-declining balance follow different rules (including a switch-over point back to straight-line) that are easy to get subtly wrong, so this tool focuses on doing straight-line correctly rather than half-implementing multiple methods.
No - the schedule stops reducing book value once it reaches the salvage value, since an asset isn't depreciated below its estimated residual worth under the straight-line method.