Division 40 · living room
Gas space heater: effective life and depreciation rate
A fixed gas heater is plant with a 15-year life; a wood heater set into the building is capital works.
- Effective life
- 15 yrs
- DV · PC rate
- 13.33% · 6.67%
- Installed new, 2026
- $2,062
The same line runs through a bathroom: a heated towel rail is plant, an unheated rail part of the building. On the same gas supply, a gas hot water system is an asset of its own with a 12-year life; the gas line to either is part of the building.
Five years of a gas space heater bought new
A gas space heater costing $2,062, held for each full year, under each method. At $2,062 it is above the $1,000 low-cost threshold, so it is deducted at its own rate. Under diminishing value its written-down value is $874 after six full years, under $1,000, so from year 7 it can go into the low-value pool.
| Year | Diminishing value 13.33% | Prime cost 6.67% |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $275 | $137 |
| 2 | $238 | $137 |
| 3 | $207 | $137 |
| 4 | $179 | $137 |
| 5 | $155 | $137 |
| Five years | $1,054 | $685 |
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 gas space heater cost installed, by year
- 2000$1,269
- 2010$1,527
- 2020$1,724
- 2026$2,062
The effective life of a gas space heater 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 one item, supplied and installed.
Common questions
What is the effective life of a gas space heater?
15 years, as the Commissioner of Taxation determines it for "Other" under "Gas" 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 rainwater tank and a water filter.
What is the depreciation rate for a gas space heater?
13.33% a year under diminishing value (200% ÷ 15), taken from what is left of the value: $275 of the $2,062 it costs installed new in the first full year, $155 in the fifth. Or 6.67% a year under prime cost (100% ÷ 15), taken from the cost: $137 in each of the first five. An item first held before 10 May 2006 takes 150% ÷ 15 under diminishing value.
Can I claim a gas space heater 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 gas space heater 8 years old in good condition, about $962 of the $2,062 new in 2026, a value whose decline can make a capital gain or loss when it is sold or scrapped. For a gas space heater 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 gas space heater?
About $2,062 installed new in 2026, from our cost database, and about $1,527 in 2010. The other items here nearest it in price are a gas hot water system (about $2,191, with a 12-year life) and an oven (about $1,914, 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.