Division 40 · living areas
Floating timber floor: effective life and depreciation rate
A floating floor sits on an underlay and is not fixed to the slab, which makes it plant with a 15-year life. A glued or nailed hardwood floor is part of the building.
- Effective life
- 15 yrs
- DV · PC rate
- 13.33% · 6.67%
- Installed new, 2026
- $10,824
Five years of a floating timber floor bought new
A floating timber floor costing $10,824, held for each full year, under each method. The $10,824 is for a whole house's floors, and whether that is one asset or each room's floor 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 $950 after 17 full years, past the end of its 15-year life, under $1,000, so from year 18 it can go into the low-value pool. A room's floor 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 13.33% | Prime cost 6.67% |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,443 | $722 |
| 2 | $1,251 | $722 |
| 3 | $1,084 | $722 |
| 4 | $939 | $722 |
| 5 | $814 | $722 |
| Five years | $5,531 | $3,610 |
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 a floating timber floor cost installed, by year
- 2000$6,661
- 2010$8,018
- 2020$9,050
- 2026$10,824
The effective life of a floating timber floor 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 floors.
Common questions
What is the effective life of a floating timber floor?
15 years, as the Commissioner of Taxation determines it for "Floating timber" 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). Seven of the other 36 items here share it, among them ducted air conditioning and an evaporative cooler.
What is the depreciation rate for a floating timber floor?
13.33% a year under diminishing value (200% ÷ 15), taken from what is left of the value: $1,443 of the $10,824 it costs installed new in the first full year, $814 in the fifth. Or 6.67% a year under prime cost (100% ÷ 15), taken from the cost: $722 in each of the first five. An item first held before 10 May 2006 takes 150% ÷ 15 under diminishing value.
Can I claim a floating timber floor 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 a floating timber floor 8 years old in good condition, about $5,051 of the $10,824 new in 2026, a value whose decline can make a capital gain or loss when it is sold or scrapped. For a floating timber floor 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 a floating timber floor?
About $10,824 installed new in 2026, from our cost database (a whole house's floors), and about $8,018 in 2010. The other items here nearest it in price are ducted air conditioning (about $12,139, with a 15-year life) and a solar power system (about $4,899, with a 20-year life).
Other items
- Vinyl plank flooring · 10 yrs
- Blinds · 10 yrs
- Curtains · 6 yrs
- Oven · 12 yrs
- Cooktop · 12 yrs
- Rangehood · 12 yrs
- Dishwasher · 8 yrs
- Microwave · 8 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.