Division 40 · bathrooms and laundry
Exhaust fan: effective life and depreciation rate
At $128 installed new, an exhaust fan costs $300 or less, so a sole owner can write it off in the year it is installed, unless it and identical fans acquired in the same income year cost more than $300 together, as three do ($384). A rangehood's fan is part of the rangehood.
- Effective life
- 10 yrs
- DV · PC rate
- 20% · 10%
- Installed new, 2026
- $128
In the same bathroom, a heated towel rail is plant too, with a 10-year life, where an unheated rail screwed to the wall is a fitting and part of the building.
Five years of an exhaust fan bought new
An exhaust fan costing $128, held for each full year, under each method. At $128 it costs $300 or less, so a sole owner deducts the whole cost in the year it is installed (section 40-80(2)), unless it is part of a set, or one of identical items, costing more than $300 together. No rate applies to it then.
| Year | Diminishing value 20% | Prime cost 10% |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $128 written off in full | |
What an exhaust fan cost installed, by year
- 2000$79
- 2010$95
- 2020$107
- 2026$128
The effective life of an exhaust fan fitted new in a property built in 2016 ends in 2026, while the building's own capital works deduction runs to the 2055–56 income year: see depreciation on a property built in 2016.
Price is for one item, supplied and installed.
By dwelling type
Our dwelling pages price an exhaust fan with the typical plant of a house, a townhouse, a unit and an apartment in every state; two states of each:
- A house in Queensland
- A house in South Australia
- A townhouse in Western Australia
- A townhouse in Queensland
- A unit in South Australia
- A unit in Tasmania
- An apartment in Tasmania
- 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: Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania.
Common questions
What is the effective life of an exhaust fan?
10 years, as the Commissioner of Taxation determines it for "Exhaust fans (including light/heating)" under "Bathroom assets" 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). Ten of the other 36 items here share it, among them a heated towel rail and a video intercom.
What is the depreciation rate for an exhaust fan?
20% a year under diminishing value (200% ÷ 10), taken from what is left of the value, or 10% under prime cost (100% ÷ 10), taken from the cost. At $128, though, one that is not part of a set, or of identical items, costing more than $300 together is written off in the year it is installed instead (section 40-80(2)). An item first held before 10 May 2006 takes 150% ÷ 10 under diminishing value.
Can I claim an exhaust fan 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 exhaust fan 5 years old in good condition, about $64 of the $128 new in 2026, a value whose decline can make a capital gain or loss when it is sold or scrapped. For an exhaust fan 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 exhaust fan?
About $128 installed new in 2026, from our cost database, and about $95 in 2010. The other items here nearest it in price are a smoke alarm (about $122, with a 6-year life) and a water filter (about $167, with a 15-year life).
Other items
General information only, not advice about your circumstances. Speak to a registered tax agent before relying on it.