About the Depreciation & Amortization calculator
This calculator builds a full depreciation or amortization schedule for any asset — equipment, vehicles, studio and broadcast gear, software or intangible rights. Enter the cost, the salvage (residual) value and the useful life, pick a method, and you get each year's expense, the accumulated depreciation and the closing book value.
The chart compares the book value under every method at once, so you can see how quickly each one writes the asset down, and a second chart shows the yearly expense for the method you chose. Amounts can be shown in US dollars, Qatari riyals, euros, pounds, UAE dirhams or Saudi riyals.
How to use it
- Pick the Currency for the schedule.
- Enter the Asset cost and its Salvage (residual) value at the end of its life.
- Enter the Useful life in years.
- Choose a Method; for units of production, enter the units for each year.
- Set the First year so the schedule shows real years, then read the table and charts.
The formula
All methods depreciate the same total — cost minus salvage — but spread it differently over the years:
- Straight-line:
(Cost − Salvage) ÷ Lifeevery year. - Declining balance:
Opening book value × (2 ÷ Life)for double-declining, or × (1.5 ÷ Life) for 150%. The schedule switches to straight-line on the remaining amount when that gives a larger expense, and never goes below salvage. - Sum-of-the-years' digits:
(Cost − Salvage) × Remaining life ÷ (n(n + 1) ÷ 2). - Units of production:
(Cost − Salvage) × Units this year ÷ Total units.
Book value at the end of each year is the cost minus the accumulated depreciation.
Which method should you use?
Straight-line is the simplest and the most widely used for financial reporting: the same expense every year. Accelerated methods — double-declining balance, 150% declining balance and sum-of-the-years' digits — put more expense in the early years, which suits assets that lose value or usefulness quickly, such as technology and production equipment. Units of production ties the expense to actual use, for example machine hours or events covered.
Under IFRS (IAS 16), the method should reflect the pattern in which the asset's benefits are consumed, and it's reviewed at least at each year end. Tax rules often prescribe their own methods and rates, so tax and book schedules can differ.
Amortizing intangible assets such as media rights
Intangible assets with a finite life — licences, software and broadcasting or content rights — are amortized rather than depreciated, but the arithmetic is the same. Under IAS 38, the amortization method should reflect how the asset's economic benefits are used up; if that pattern can't be determined reliably, straight-line is used. Intangibles usually have a residual value of zero, so set the salvage value to 0 for a typical rights contract.
For example, a five-year rights contract costing QAR 50,000,000 with no residual value amortizes at QAR 10,000,000 a year on a straight-line basis. If the benefit is tied to a number of events per season, units of production — with events as the units — follows that pattern instead.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between depreciation and amortization?
Depreciation spreads the cost of tangible assets such as equipment and buildings over their useful life. Amortization does the same for intangible assets such as software, licences and rights.
How do you calculate straight-line depreciation?
Subtract the salvage value from the cost and divide by the useful life in years. A 1,000,000 asset with a 100,000 salvage value over 5 years depreciates 180,000 a year.
Why does double-declining balance switch to straight-line?
Declining balance alone would never quite reach the salvage value. Switching to straight-line on the remaining amount, when that gives a larger expense, writes the asset down to exactly its salvage value by the end of its life.
Can depreciation take the book value below the salvage value?
No. The schedule stops once the book value reaches the salvage value, so the total depreciation always equals cost minus salvage.
Does this follow tax depreciation rules?
It calculates the standard accounting methods. Tax authorities often set their own rates and conventions, such as half-year rules, so check the rules that apply where the asset is taxed.
Last updated October 24, 2026. Results are estimates for education and planning — see our disclaimer.