Division 40 · bedrooms and living areas
Curtains: effective life and depreciation rate
Curtains and drapes have a 6-year life, four years shorter than blinds. The track or rod is part of the curtain.
- Effective life
- 6 yrs
- DV · PC rate
- 33.33% · 16.67%
- Installed new, 2026
- $2,571
Five years of curtains bought new
Curtains costing $2,571, held for each full year, under each method. The $2,571 is for a whole house's curtains, and each curtain is a separate asset. The table works them together at their own rate, none pooled, but each is tested on its own cost, which the house's price does not give: a curtain that cost less than $1,000 can go into the low-value pool from the start, and one of $300 or less 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 33.33% | Prime cost 16.67% |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $857 | $429 |
| 2 | $571 | $429 |
| 3 | $381 | $429 |
| 4 | $254 | $429 |
| 5 | $169 | $429 |
| Five years | $2,232 | $2,145 |
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 curtains cost installed, by year
- 2000$1,582
- 2010$1,905
- 2020$2,150
- 2026$2,571
The effective life of curtains fitted new in a property built in 2020 ends in 2026, while the building's own capital works deduction runs to the 2059–60 income year: see depreciation on a property built in 2020.
Price is for a whole house's curtains.
Common questions
What is the effective life of curtains?
6 years, as the Commissioner of Taxation determines it for "Window curtains" under "Assets generally" 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). One other item here shares it: a smoke alarm.
What is the depreciation rate for curtains?
33.33% a year under diminishing value (200% ÷ 6), taken from what is left of the value: $857 of the $2,571 it costs installed new in the first full year, $169 in the fifth. Or 16.67% a year under prime cost (100% ÷ 6), taken from the cost: $429 in each of the first five. An item first held before 10 May 2006 takes 150% ÷ 6 under diminishing value.
Can I claim curtains 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 curtains 3 years old in good condition, about $1,286 of the $2,571 new in 2026, a value whose decline can make a capital gain or loss when it is sold or scrapped. For curtains 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 curtains?
About $2,571 installed new in 2026, from our cost database (a whole house's curtains), and about $1,905 in 2010. The other items here nearest it in price are a split-system air conditioner (about $2,751, with a 10-year life) and a gas hot water system (about $2,191, with a 12-year life).
Other items
General information only, not advice about your circumstances. Speak to a registered tax agent before relying on it.