Division 40 · kitchen
Water filter: effective life and depreciation rate
An under-sink filter is plant over 15 years. At $167 installed new, one costs $300 or less, so a sole owner can write it off in the year it is installed, unless it is part of a set, or one of identical items, costing more than $300 together.
- Effective life
- 15 yrs
- DV · PC rate
- 13.33% · 6.67%
- Installed new, 2026
- $167
Water from a rainwater tank is often filtered too: the tank is an asset of its own, plant over 15 years if it is plastic, part of the building if it is concrete set into the ground, and its pump another, with a row of its own in the Commissioner's table.
Five years of a water filter bought new
A water filter costing $167, held for each full year, under each method. At $167 it costs $300 or less, so a sole owner deducts the whole cost in the year it is installed (section 40-80(2)), unless it is part of a set, or one of identical items, costing more than $300 together. No rate applies to it then.
| Year | Diminishing value 13.33% | Prime cost 6.67% |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $167 written off in full | |
What a water filter cost installed, by year
- 2000$103
- 2010$124
- 2020$140
- 2026$167
The effective life of a water filter fitted new in a property built in 2011 ends in 2026, while the building's own capital works deduction runs to the 2050–51 income year: see depreciation on a property built in 2011.
Price is for one item, supplied and installed.
Common questions
What is the effective life of a water filter?
15 years, as the Commissioner of Taxation determines it for "Water filters, electrical" 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). Seven of the other 36 items here share it, among them a fire extinguisher and a gas space heater.
What is the depreciation rate for a water filter?
13.33% a year under diminishing value (200% ÷ 15), taken from what is left of the value, or 6.67% under prime cost (100% ÷ 15), taken from the cost. At $167, though, one that is not part of a set, or of identical items, costing more than $300 together is written off in the year it is installed instead (section 40-80(2)). An item first held before 10 May 2006 takes 150% ÷ 15 under diminishing value.
Can I claim a water filter 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 water filter 8 years old in good condition, about $78 of the $167 new in 2026, a value whose decline can make a capital gain or loss when it is sold or scrapped. For a water filter 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 water filter?
About $167 installed new in 2026, from our cost database, and about $124 in 2010. The other items here nearest it in price are an exhaust fan (about $128, with a 10-year life) and a smoke alarm (about $122, with a 6-year life).
Other items
General information only, not advice about your circumstances. Speak to a registered tax agent before relying on it.