Division 40 · bedrooms and living areas
Carpet: effective life and depreciation rate
Carpet is plant, not part of the building: it can be lifted. Tiles and polished floorboards are capital works; floating floors and vinyl are plant like carpet.
- Effective life
- 8 yrs
- DV · PC rate
- 25% · 12.5%
- Installed new, 2026
- $4,545
Five years of carpet bought new
Carpet costing $4,545, held for each full year, under each method. The $4,545 is for a whole house's carpet, and whether that is one asset or each room's carpet is its own is a question of fact and degree (section 40-30). As one asset it is above the $1,000 low-cost threshold and is deducted at its own rate, as the table works it: under diminishing value its written-down value is $808 after six full years, under $1,000, so from year 7 it can go into the low-value pool. A room's carpet that is its own asset is tested on its own cost: under $1,000, it can be pooled from the start, and at $300 or less it is written off in the year it is installed unless it is part of a set, or one of identical items, costing more than $300 together (section 40-80(2)).
| Year | Diminishing value 25% | Prime cost 12.5% |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,136 | $568 |
| 2 | $852 | $568 |
| 3 | $639 | $568 |
| 4 | $480 | $568 |
| 5 | $360 | $568 |
| Five years | $3,467 | $2,840 |
Full years of 365 days. Diminishing value and prime cost are worked by days held ÷ 365 (sections 40-72 and 40-75), so a year that includes 29 February, held throughout, claims 366/365 of what a 365-day year would on the same value. The first year is pro-rated by the days the item is held for earning rent, except in the pool, whose rates are not by the day.
What carpet cost installed, by year
- 2000$2,797
- 2010$3,367
- 2020$3,800
- 2026$4,545
The effective life of carpet fitted new in a property built in 2018 ends in 2026, while the building's own capital works deduction runs to the 2057–58 income year: see depreciation on a property built in 2018.
Price is for a whole house's carpet.
By dwelling type
Our dwelling pages price carpet with the typical plant of a house, a townhouse, a unit and an apartment in every state; two states of each:
- A house in New South Wales
- A house in the Northern Territory
- A townhouse in Queensland
- A townhouse in the Northern Territory
- A unit in South Australia
- A unit in Queensland
- An apartment in the Australian Capital Territory
- An apartment in Queensland
Each is priced at its state's rates, and the state's own page sets the four types side by side: New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory.
Common questions
What is the effective life of carpet?
8 years, as the Commissioner of Taxation determines it for "Carpet" under "Floor coverings (removable without damage)" in the residential property operators' table of the Income Tax Assessment (Effective Life of Depreciating Assets) Determination 2025, which most schedules use (an owner may estimate its own instead, section 40-105). Four of the other 36 items here share it, among them a dishwasher and a television.
What is the depreciation rate for carpet?
25% a year under diminishing value (200% ÷ 8), taken from what is left of the value: $1,136 of the $4,545 it costs installed new in the first full year, $360 in the fifth. Or 12.5% a year under prime cost (100% ÷ 8), taken from the cost: $568 in each of the first five. An item first held before 10 May 2006 takes 150% ÷ 8 under diminishing value.
Can I claim carpet that came with the property?
Generally not, for an individual, a self-managed super fund or most trusts and partnerships that bought an established property at or after 7.30 pm on 9 May 2017 (section 40-27; the 2017 rules set out who it reaches and the exceptions). Such plant is still valued, at what it costs new in the year the property is bought less its age and condition: for carpet 4 years old in good condition, about $2,273 of the $4,545 new in 2026, a value whose decline can make a capital gain or loss when it is sold or scrapped. For carpet bought new for the property while it is let, and never used while it was the owner's home, deductions start on the day of installation.
What does it cost to install carpet?
About $4,545 installed new in 2026, from our cost database (a whole house's carpet), and about $3,367 in 2010. The other items here nearest it in price are an evaporative cooler (about $4,485, with a 15-year life) and vinyl plank flooring (about $4,784, with a 10-year life).
Other items
- Curtains · 6 yrs
- Ceiling fan · 5 yrs
- Floating timber floor · 15 yrs
- Vinyl plank flooring · 10 yrs
- Blinds · 10 yrs
- Oven · 12 yrs
- Cooktop · 12 yrs
- Rangehood · 12 yrs
- All items
Floor coverings (removable without damage) in the Commissioner's table
General information only, not advice about your circumstances. Speak to a registered tax agent before relying on it.