Division 40 · apartment buildings
Lift: effective life and depreciation rate
A lift's 30-year life is the longest of any common item. Each apartment holds a share by unit entitlement, tested against the thresholds instead of the whole: of a lift costing $45,029 installed new, a share of 2.2% or less costs less than $1,000 and can go into the low-value pool, and one of 0.66% or less is within the $300 write-off, unless the item is part of a set, or one of identical items acquired in the same income year, whose shares cost more than $300 together.
- Effective life
- 30 yrs
- DV · PC rate
- 6.67% · 3.33%
- Installed new, 2026
- $45,029
Five years of a lift bought new
A lift costing $45,029, held for each full year, under each method. At $45,029 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 $945 after 56 full years, past the end of its 30-year life, under $1,000, so from year 57 it can go into the low-value pool.
| Year | Diminishing value 6.67% | Prime cost 3.33% |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $3,002 | $1,501 |
| 2 | $2,802 | $1,501 |
| 3 | $2,615 | $1,501 |
| 4 | $2,441 | $1,501 |
| 5 | $2,278 | $1,501 |
| Five years | $13,138 | $7,505 |
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 lift cost installed, by year
- 2000$27,710
- 2010$33,358
- 2020$37,650
- 2026$45,029
The effective life of a lift fitted new in a property built in 1996 ends in 2026, while the building's own capital works deduction runs to the 2035–36 income year: see depreciation on a property built in 1996.
Price is for one item, supplied and installed.
By dwelling type
Our dwelling pages price a lift with the typical plant of an apartment in every state; two states of each:
Each is priced at its state's rates, and the state's own page sets the four types side by side: Victoria and South Australia.
Common questions
What is the effective life of a lift?
30 years, as the Commissioner of Taxation determines it for "Lifts (including hydraulic and traction lifts)" 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). No other item here has the same life; the nearest is a solar power system at 20 years.
What is the depreciation rate for a lift?
6.67% a year under diminishing value (200% ÷ 30), taken from what is left of the value: $3,002 of the $45,029 it costs installed new in the first full year, $2,278 in the fifth. Or 3.33% a year under prime cost (100% ÷ 30), taken from the cost: $1,501 in each of the first five. An item first held before 10 May 2006 takes 150% ÷ 30 under diminishing value.
Can I claim a lift 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 lift 15 years old in good condition, about $22,515 of the $45,029 new in 2026, a value whose decline can make a capital gain or loss when it is sold or scrapped. For a lift 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 lift?
About $45,029 installed new in 2026, from our cost database (our own estimate, not an observed price), and about $33,358 in 2010. The other items here nearest it in price are ducted air conditioning (about $12,139, with a 15-year life) and a floating timber floor (about $10,824, 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.