Division 40 · pool
Pool pump: effective life and depreciation rate
The pool shell, its coping, tiling and fencing are capital works at 2.5%; the pump, filter, chlorinator and cleaner are plant, each its own asset.
- Effective life
- 10 yrs
- DV · PC rate
- 20% · 10%
- Installed new, 2026
- $721
Beside it, the filter and the chlorinator are assets of their own, each on the same 10-year life as the pump. A pump replaced on its own while the property is let is a new asset, deductible from the day it is installed, while the other two carry on from their own install dates, and what is left of the old pump's value is dealt with in the year it goes.
Five years of a pool pump bought new
A pool pump costing $721, held for each full year, under each method. At $721 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, $632 over the five years against $484 at its own rate under diminishing value.
| Year | Diminishing value 20% | Prime cost 10% | Low-value pool |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $144 | $72 | $135 |
| 2 | $115 | $72 | $220 |
| 3 | $92 | $72 | $137 |
| 4 | $74 | $72 | $86 |
| 5 | $59 | $72 | $54 |
| Five years | $484 | $360 | $632 |
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 pump cost installed, by year
- 2000$444
- 2010$534
- 2020$603
- 2026$721
The effective life of a pool pump 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 pump?
10 years, as the Commissioner of Taxation determines it for "Filtration assets (including pumps)" 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 chlorinator.
What is the depreciation rate for a pool pump?
20% a year under diminishing value (200% ÷ 10), taken from what is left of the value: $144 of the $721 it costs installed new in the first full year, $59 in the fifth. Or 10% a year under prime cost (100% ÷ 10), taken from the cost: $72 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 pump 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 pump 5 years old in good condition, about $361 of the $721 new in 2026, a value whose decline can make a capital gain or loss when it is sold or scrapped. For a pool pump 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 pump?
About $721 installed new in 2026, from our cost database, and about $534 in 2010. The other items here nearest it in price are a rangehood (about $730, with a 12-year life) and a television (about $706, with an 8-year life).
Other items
General information only, not advice about your circumstances. Speak to a registered tax agent before relying on it.