Division 40 · roof
Evaporative cooler: effective life and depreciation rate
The Commissioner's table gives a fixed evaporative cooler 15 years, its ducting and vents excluded: as with ducted air conditioning, they are capital works at 2.5%. The price on this page is worked mostly from whole houses' ducted coolers supplied and installed, ductwork included, and so are the five years worked from it: a schedule takes the ductwork out to capital works, and no price we hold is for the ductwork on its own.
- Effective life
- 15 yrs
- DV · PC rate
- 13.33% · 6.67%
- Installed new, 2026
- $4,485
Five years of an evaporative cooler bought new
An evaporative cooler costing $4,485, held for each full year, under each method. These figures take the whole installed price as one asset at the cooler's 15-year life, so they include the ducting and vents of most of the installs it is worked from, which are capital works at 2.5% a year, not plant: over these five years they deduct more on their share than capital works would. No price we hold gives their share, so this page cannot work them apart. At $4,485 it is above the $1,000 low-cost threshold as one asset, so it is deducted at its own rate. Under diminishing value its written-down value is $930 after 11 full years, under $1,000, so from year 12 it can go into the low-value pool.
| Year | Diminishing value 13.33% | Prime cost 6.67% |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $598 | $299 |
| 2 | $518 | $299 |
| 3 | $449 | $299 |
| 4 | $389 | $299 |
| 5 | $337 | $299 |
| Five years | $2,291 | $1,495 |
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 an evaporative cooler cost installed, by year
- 2000$2,760
- 2010$3,323
- 2020$3,750
- 2026$4,485
The effective life of an evaporative cooler fitted new in a property built in 2011 ends in 2026, while the building's own capital works deduction runs to the 2050–51 income year: see depreciation on a property built in 2011.
Price is for a whole house's ducted cooler.
Common questions
What is the effective life of an evaporative cooler?
15 years, as the Commissioner of Taxation determines it for "Fixed (excluding ducting and vents)" under "Evaporative coolers" 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). Seven of the other 36 items here share it, among them a solar hot water system and a rainwater tank.
What is the depreciation rate for an evaporative cooler?
13.33% a year under diminishing value (200% ÷ 15), taken from what is left of the value: $598 of the $4,485 it costs installed new in the first full year, $337 in the fifth. Or 6.67% a year under prime cost (100% ÷ 15), taken from the cost: $299 in each of the first five. Both take the whole installed price at the cooler's life, so they include the ducting and vents of most of the installs it is worked from. An item first held before 10 May 2006 takes 150% ÷ 15 under diminishing value.
Can I claim an evaporative cooler 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 an evaporative cooler 8 years old in good condition, about $2,093 of the $4,485 new in 2026, a value whose decline can make a capital gain or loss when it is sold or scrapped. That value is worked on the whole installed price at the cooler's life, and so includes the ducting and vents of most of the installs it is worked from, which are capital works, outside section 40-27. For an evaporative cooler 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 an evaporative cooler?
About $4,485 installed new in 2026, from our cost database (a whole house's ducted cooler), and about $3,323 in 2010. The other items here nearest it in price are carpet (about $4,545, with an 8-year life) and vinyl plank flooring (about $4,784, with a 10-year life).
Other items
General information only, not advice about your circumstances. Speak to a registered tax agent before relying on it.