Depreciation schedule template

A depreciation schedule works out how much of each fixed asset's cost goes into your profit and loss account each year, and what the asset is still worth in your books (its net book value, or NBV) at each year end. This free Excel template does it for up to 50 assets over five years, straight line or reducing balance, with an opening NBV, a charge and a closing NBV for every year.

Download the Excel template

Excel (.xlsx) · 23 KB · free, no sign-up

Running a company of 30 to 200 people? Documents like this are now worth money.

The list of what you own, where it is and who looks after it belongs in a fixed asset register. This schedule takes the assets from there and works out the yearly charge for your P&L.

What's in the template

Three sheets: a read-me, Schedule with room for 50 assets, and Example - Schedule, filled in for a fictional 38-person commercial printer. For each asset you enter the method, cost, residual value, life or rate, the year it enters the schedule and its NBV at that point. The sheet then works out an opening NBV, a charge and a closing NBV for each of five years, with a totals row. The example's yearly charges:

ID	Asset	Method	NBV entering	Y1	Y2	Y3	Y4	Y5	NBV after Y5
FA001	Digital printing press	Straight line	142,500	21,250	21,250	21,250	21,250	21,250	36,250
FA002	Guillotine and folding line	Reducing balance	51,200	10,240	8,192	6,554	5,243	4,194	16,777
FA003	Delivery van	Reducing balance	34,000	8,500	6,375	4,781	3,586	2,690	8,068
FA004	Laptops and design workstations (12)	Straight line	14,400	7,200	7,200	0	0	0	0
FA005	Studio and office fit-out	Straight line	33,600	4,800	4,800	4,800	4,800	4,800	9,600
FA008	Electric forklift	Straight line	14,500	3,000	3,000	3,000	3,000	0	2,500
Planned	Wide-format printer	Straight line	42,000		8,000	8,000	8,000	8,000	10,000
	Total charge			54,990	58,817	48,385	45,879	40,934

Straight line or reducing balance?

Straight line spreads the cost, less the residual value, evenly over the asset's useful life: (cost − residual value) ÷ life in years, the same charge every year. It suits assets that give steady service until they're replaced, such as fit-outs and most machinery.

Reducing balance charges a fixed percentage of each year's opening NBV, so the charge is largest in the first year and shrinks after that. It suits assets that lose value fastest when new, such as vehicles.

The same £34,000 van with a £5,000 residual value, straight line over five years and reducing balance at 25%:

	Straight line: opening NBV	Charge	Closing NBV	Reducing balance: opening NBV	Charge	Closing NBV
Year 1	34,000	5,800	28,200	34,000	8,500	25,500
Year 2	28,200	5,800	22,400	25,500	6,375	19,125
Year 3	22,400	5,800	16,600	19,125	4,781	14,344
Year 4	16,600	5,800	10,800	14,344	3,586	10,758
Year 5	10,800	5,800	5,000	10,758	2,690	8,068

Reducing balance leaves £8,068 on the books after five years, against £5,000 for straight line. On its own the percentage never quite reaches the residual value, and the template never charges below it with either method.

How to fill it in

Take the asset list from your fixed asset register, one row per asset, with the same ID so the two can be matched. Assets already down to their residual value can be left out.
Choose the method and the life or rate your accounting policy sets for that type of asset, and keep it the same for similar assets every year.
Enter cost and residual value, what you expect to get for the asset at the end of its useful life. For computer equipment it's often nothing.
Enter the NBV entering the schedule: cost for something bought during the five years, or last year end's net book value, from the register, for an asset you already own.
Set the first year. Leave it blank for assets you own or buy in Year 1; enter 2 to 5 for planned purchases, so their charge starts in the right year.
Read the totals row. Each year's total charge is the depreciation line for your P&L, budget or financial model.
Roll it forward each year: closing NBVs become next year's NBV entering, sold or scrapped assets come out, and the register records the disposal.

Depreciation and tax

UK: the depreciation in your accounts isn't normally deductible for tax. HMRC's guidance is that it's added back in the tax computation, and capital allowances take its place. Through the annual investment allowance a business can deduct the full value of qualifying items, up to £1 million a year, from its profits before tax, and companies can claim full expensing on new and unused plant and machinery bought from 1 April 2023 (cars excluded). The tax relief in any one year can therefore be very different from the depreciation, and this schedule doesn't need to match your capital allowances.

US: tax depreciation follows IRS rules, set out in IRS Publication 946. Most property must be depreciated under the Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS), and a section 179 deduction can be taken instead for certain property, so book and tax figures often differ there too.

Keep this schedule for the accounts and leave the tax figures to whoever prepares your return; nothing here is tax advice.

Example: a fictional printer's five years

The Example sheet belongs to a fictional 38-person commercial printer whose Year 1 is the year ending 31 December 2026: six assets it owns and one planned purchase, a £42,000 wide-format printer arriving in Year 2.

The total charge is £54,990 in Year 1 and rises to £58,817 in Year 2 as the new printer starts depreciating. It falls to £48,385 in Year 3, once the laptops are fully written off, and keeps easing as the reducing-balance charges on the van and guillotine shrink. The electric forklift reaches its £2,500 residual value in Year 4, so it has no charge in Year 5. These yearly totals go into the printer's budget and three-year model.

Common mistakes

Changing lives or methods to smooth profit. Change them only when your estimate of how long an asset will last genuinely changes, and record why.
Charging below the residual value, or carrying on once an asset is fully written down.
Using capital allowances as the depreciation charge. They're a tax figure; the accounts need a charge based on how long you'll use the asset.
Forgetting planned purchases, so the budget's depreciation is too low the year new equipment arrives.
No rule for the year of purchase. This template charges a full year in the first year; if your policy charges by the month, overwrite that first charge and note it.
A schedule that disagrees with the register, because an asset was added to one and not the other.

Frequently asked questions

What is net book value?

Cost less all the depreciation charged so far. It's an accounting figure, not a price: a five-year-old van may sell for more or less than its NBV, and the difference is a profit or loss on disposal.

How do I choose a useful life?

There's no official list. Base it on how long your company really keeps that kind of asset, write it into your accounting policy, and review it if assets regularly outlast it or wear out sooner.

Should we depreciate small items?

Set a capitalisation threshold, such as £500 or £1,000, and treat anything cheaper as an ordinary expense. Put it in your accounting policy and apply it every year, so the register and this schedule only carry assets worth tracking.