Division 40 · kitchen
Microwave: effective life and depreciation rate
A built-in microwave is plant like a freestanding one. At $586 installed new, one costs more than $300 and less than $1,000, so a sole owner cannot write it off at once, but it can go into the low-value pool.
- Effective life
- 8 yrs
- DV · PC rate
- 25% · 12.5%
- Installed new, 2026
- $586
Five years of a microwave bought new
A microwave costing $586, held for each full year, under each method. At $586 it costs less than $1,000, so it can go into the low-value pool from the start: 18.75% of its cost in the first year, then 37.5% of what is left each year after, $514 over the five years against $447 at its own rate under diminishing value.
| Year | Diminishing value 25% | Prime cost 12.5% | Low-value pool |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $147 | $73 | $110 |
| 2 | $110 | $73 | $179 |
| 3 | $82 | $73 | $111 |
| 4 | $62 | $73 | $70 |
| 5 | $46 | $73 | $44 |
| Five years | $447 | $365 | $514 |
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 microwave cost installed, by year
- 2000$361
- 2010$434
- 2020$490
- 2026$586
The effective life of a microwave fitted new in a property built in 2018 ends in 2026, while the building's own capital works deduction runs to the 2057–58 income year: see depreciation on a property built in 2018.
Price is for one item, supplied and installed.
Common questions
What is the effective life of a microwave?
8 years, as the Commissioner of Taxation determines it for "Microwave ovens" under "Kitchen 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). Four of the other 36 items here share it, among them a dishwasher and a washing machine.
What is the depreciation rate for a microwave?
25% a year under diminishing value (200% ÷ 8), taken from what is left of the value: $147 of the $586 it costs installed new in the first full year, $46 in the fifth. Or 12.5% a year under prime cost (100% ÷ 8), taken from the cost: $73 in each of the first five. An item first held before 10 May 2006 takes 150% ÷ 8 under diminishing value.
Can I claim a microwave 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 microwave 4 years old in good condition, about $293 of the $586 new in 2026, a value whose decline can make a capital gain or loss when it is sold or scrapped. For a microwave 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 microwave?
About $586 installed new in 2026, from our cost database, and about $434 in 2010. The other items here nearest it in price are a video intercom (about $592, with a 10-year life) and a garage door motor (about $643, 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.