Division 40 · kitchen, laundry and living areas
Vinyl plank flooring: effective life and depreciation rate
Vinyl and linoleum are plant with a 10-year life, faster than a floating timber floor's 15.
- Effective life
- 10 yrs
- DV · PC rate
- 20% · 10%
- Installed new, 2026
- $4,784
Five years of vinyl plank flooring bought new
Vinyl plank flooring costing $4,784, held for each full year, under each method. The $4,784 is for a whole house's floors, and whether that is one asset or each room's floor is its own is a question of fact and degree (section 40-30). As one asset it is above the $1,000 low-cost threshold and is deducted at its own rate, as the table works it: under diminishing value its written-down value is $802 after eight full years, under $1,000, so from year 9 it can go into the low-value pool. A room's floor that is its own asset is tested on its own cost: under $1,000, it can be pooled from the start, and at $300 or less it is written off in the year it is installed unless it is part of a set, or one of identical items, costing more than $300 together (section 40-80(2)).
| Year | Diminishing value 20% | Prime cost 10% |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $957 | $478 |
| 2 | $765 | $478 |
| 3 | $612 | $478 |
| 4 | $490 | $478 |
| 5 | $392 | $478 |
| Five years | $3,216 | $2,390 |
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 vinyl plank flooring cost installed, by year
- 2000$2,944
- 2010$3,544
- 2020$4,000
- 2026$4,784
The effective life of vinyl plank flooring 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 a whole house's floors.
Common questions
What is the effective life of vinyl plank flooring?
10 years, as the Commissioner of Taxation determines it for "Linoleum" under "Floor coverings (removable without damage)" 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 split-system air conditioner and blinds.
What is the depreciation rate for vinyl plank flooring?
20% a year under diminishing value (200% ÷ 10), taken from what is left of the value: $957 of the $4,784 it costs installed new in the first full year, $392 in the fifth. Or 10% a year under prime cost (100% ÷ 10), taken from the cost: $478 in each of the first five. An item first held before 10 May 2006 takes 150% ÷ 10 under diminishing value.
Can I claim vinyl plank flooring 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 vinyl plank flooring 5 years old in good condition, about $2,392 of the $4,784 new in 2026, a value whose decline can make a capital gain or loss when it is sold or scrapped. For vinyl plank flooring 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 vinyl plank flooring?
About $4,784 installed new in 2026, from our cost database (a whole house's floors), and about $3,544 in 2010. The other items here nearest it in price are a solar power system (about $4,899, with a 20-year life) and carpet (about $4,545, with an 8-year life).
Other items
- Blinds · 10 yrs
- Curtains · 6 yrs
- Oven · 12 yrs
- Cooktop · 12 yrs
- Rangehood · 12 yrs
- Dishwasher · 8 yrs
- Microwave · 8 yrs
- Refrigerator · 12 yrs
- All items
Floor coverings (removable without damage) in the Commissioner's table
General information only, not advice about your circumstances. Speak to a registered tax agent before relying on it.