Division 40 · pool
Pool chlorinator: effective life and depreciation rate
A salt chlorinator's cell wears out faster than the unit; a replacement cell is a repair, not a new asset.
- Effective life
- 10 yrs
- DV · PC rate
- 20% · 10%
- Installed new, 2026
- $1,288
It works beside the pump and the filter, each an asset of its own with its own data plate and date, and has a row of the Commissioner's table to itself, on the same 10-year life as the filtration row the pump and filter share. Installed new it costs about $1,288, against $721 for the pump and $1,017 for the filter. The salt and chemicals it works with are running costs of the pool, not part of the asset.
Five years of a pool chlorinator bought new
A pool chlorinator costing $1,288, held for each full year, under each method. At $1,288 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 $824 after two full years, under $1,000, so from year 3 it can go into the low-value pool.
| Year | Diminishing value 20% | Prime cost 10% |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $258 | $129 |
| 2 | $206 | $129 |
| 3 | $165 | $129 |
| 4 | $132 | $129 |
| 5 | $105 | $129 |
| Five years | $866 | $645 |
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 pool chlorinator cost installed, by year
- 2000$793
- 2010$954
- 2020$1,077
- 2026$1,288
The effective life of a pool chlorinator 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.
Common questions
What is the effective life of a pool chlorinator?
10 years, as the Commissioner of Taxation determines it for "Chlorinators" under "Swimming pool 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 pool filter and a pool pump.
What is the depreciation rate for a pool chlorinator?
20% a year under diminishing value (200% ÷ 10), taken from what is left of the value: $258 of the $1,288 it costs installed new in the first full year, $105 in the fifth. Or 10% a year under prime cost (100% ÷ 10), taken from the cost: $129 in each of the first five. An item first held before 10 May 2006 takes 150% ÷ 10 under diminishing value.
Can I claim a pool chlorinator 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 pool chlorinator 5 years old in good condition, about $644 of the $1,288 new in 2026, a value whose decline can make a capital gain or loss when it is sold or scrapped. For a pool chlorinator 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 pool chlorinator?
About $1,288 installed new in 2026, from our cost database, and about $954 in 2010. The other items here nearest it in price are a dishwasher (about $1,276, with an 8-year life) and a refrigerator (about $1,160, 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.