Straight-Line Depreciation Calculator

Numbers stay in your browser. The default is a cost of 10,000, salvage of 1,000, and a 5-year life, which is 1,800 a year and a book value of 8,200 after year 1. This is not tax advice.

Quick answer: with cost in B2, salvage in C2, and useful life in years in D2:

=SLN(B2,C2,D2)
=(B2-C2)/D2

Both return the same annual depreciation. Book value after n years is =B2-SLN(B2,C2,D2)*n.

10,000 cost, 1,000 salvage, 5 years

Depreciable amount is 10,000 − 1,000 = 9,000. Annual depreciation is 9,000 ÷ 5 = 1,800. In Google Sheets on 12 November 2026, =SLN(10000,1000,5) 與 =(10000-1000)/5 both returned 1800. Book value after year 1 is 10,000 − 1,800 = 8200. After year 5 it is 1000, which is the salvage. A second check with no salvage, =SLN(5000,0,4), returned 1250.

If you ask for a year past the life, this calculator stops depreciating at salvage rather than driving the book value negative. Year 0 is the cost, before any charge.

What straight-line assumes

The same amount is charged every year. Declining-balance, sum-of-years-digits, and units-of-production follow different schedules and will not match these figures. A mid-year purchase in some tax systems takes only a half year of depreciation in year 1; SLN does not apply that convention by itself.

Salvage cannot exceed cost. A life of 0 is not a valid divisor. This page does not prorate a partial year by days; if you need that, multiply the annual amount by days held ÷ 365 (or your accounting day’s convention) in the sheet.

Questions that come up

What is the straight-line depreciation formula in Excel or Google Sheets?

Use =SLN(cost, salvage, life), or =(cost-salvage)/life. For a cost of 10,000, a salvage of 1,000, and a 5-year life, both return 1,800 a year. Book value after n years is cost minus n times that annual amount, and it should equal salvage at the end of the life.

What is salvage value?

The amount you expect the asset to be worth at the end of its useful life — a resale or scrap figure, or 0 if you expect nothing. It is subtracted from cost before dividing by the life, so a higher salvage means less depreciation each year.

Is this tax or accounting advice?

No. This is the textbook straight-line schedule. Tax rules, half-year conventions, mid-month conventions, and declining-balance methods can produce a different year-1 amount. Use the method your books or tax rules actually require.