Depreciation Calculator
Calculate asset depreciation using Straight-Line, Double Declining Balance, Sum-of-Years-Digits, or Units of Production methods.
| Year | Depreciation | Accum. Depr. | Book Value |
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Calculate annual asset depreciation using Straight-Line, Double Declining Balance, Sum-of-Years-Digits, or Units of Production methods, with a full year-by-year schedule and chart.
How Depreciation Calculator Works
Straight-Line depreciation spreads the depreciable base evenly across the asset's useful life: Annual Depreciation = (Cost − Salvage Value) ÷ Useful Life. Double Declining Balance instead applies a fixed rate (2 ÷ Useful Life) to the asset's remaining book value each year — which front-loads depreciation — while switching to straight-line partway through if that produces a larger deduction, and never depreciating below the salvage value.
Sum-of-Years-Digits also accelerates depreciation, but does so with a shrinking fraction each year based on the sum of the digits from 1 to the asset's useful life (e.g., 1+2+...+10 = 55 for a 10-year asset), giving a smoothly declining depreciation amount rather than DDB's steeper early-year drop.
Units of Production instead ties depreciation to actual usage: (Cost − Salvage) ÷ Total Expected Units gives a per-unit depreciation rate, which is then multiplied by the units produced or used in a given year — useful for equipment where wear tracks output rather than time.
See It In Action
Who Uses Depreciation Calculator and Why
- Building a straight-line depreciation schedule for a piece of business equipment for financial reporting.
- Comparing how much faster Double Declining Balance or Sum-of-Years-Digits write off an asset\'s value versus straight-line.
- Calculating depreciation for machinery whose wear tracks actual usage (like hours run or units produced) rather than time.
- Estimating an asset\'s book value at a specific future year under a chosen depreciation method.
Mistakes to Avoid
- Using this calculator\'s book-depreciation methods (SL, DDB, SYD, UOP) as a stand-in for U.S. tax depreciation — MACRS uses its own IRS-specific recovery periods and conventions that differ from these standard accounting methods.
- Setting an unrealistically low or zero salvage value on an asset that will actually retain resale value — all four methods here cap depreciation so book value never falls below whatever salvage value you enter, so an inaccurate input skews the whole schedule.
- Expecting Double Declining Balance to fully depreciate the asset on its own — DDB applies a fixed percentage to the shrinking book value indefinitely, which is why the calculator switches to straight-line partway through once that produces a larger deduction, ensuring the asset reaches salvage value by the end of its useful life.
Tips for Best Results
- For equipment whose wear depends more on how much it\'s used than how long you\'ve owned it, Units of Production usually gives a more realistic depreciation pattern than a time-based method.
- If you want larger deductions in the earlier years of an asset\'s life (useful for some tax planning purposes, subject to actual tax rules), compare Double Declining Balance and Sum-of-Years-Digits side by side against straight-line.
Fixing Common Problems
My Double Declining Balance schedule seems to "jump" partway through. — That\'s expected — DDB automatically switches to straight-line depreciation once straight-line would produce a larger annual deduction on the remaining book value, which is how the method fully depreciates the asset by the end of its useful life.
Terms Explained
Salvage value: The estimated resale or scrap value of an asset at the end of its useful life — depreciation never reduces book value below this amount.
Book value: An asset\'s original cost minus all depreciation taken so far.