Free depreciation schedule template for Excel (fixed asset register, straight-line)
A depreciation schedule lists every fixed asset a business owns (equipment, computers, furniture, vehicles) with what it cost, when it went into use and how long it should last, and works out how much of that cost becomes an expense each period. This free Excel template is a fixed asset register with straight-line depreciation by month: for any period it gives each asset's depreciation, accumulated depreciation and book value, rolls the totals forward by category, writes the journal entry and checks the result against your books. Below: what's in the file, how the formula works, a worked example for a small design studio that ties to its trial balance and balance sheet, how to fill in each column, disposals, and how book depreciation differs from tax depreciation.
Short answer: download the depreciation schedule template (.xlsx). Type the period at the top, then one line per asset: category, date placed in service, cost, salvage value and useful life in years. The template calculates straight-line depreciation by month ((cost − salvage) ÷ useful life in months, a full month in the month the asset goes into use), the depreciation for the period, accumulated depreciation and book value, and a roll-forward by category. The Example is a fictional studio's January to September 2026: depreciation 1,250.00, accumulated depreciation 10,000.00 and book value 21,400.00, which ties to the accumulated depreciation in its books.
Download the free depreciation schedule template (.xlsx)
Three sheets: a blank Depreciation schedule (200 asset lines, 9 starter categories), a filled-in Example and How to use. Asset register, summary by category, journal entry, key figures, a status line and a check column. It uses only SUM, SUMIFS, COUNT, COUNTIF, ROUND, IF, AND, OR, NOT, N, ABS, MAX, MIN, TEXT, DATE, YEAR, MONTH and TODAY, so it works in Excel, Google Sheets (File, Import), LibreOffice and Numbers. No sign-up, no email, no macros.
- What's in the template
- How straight-line depreciation is calculated
- Worked example: a studio's fixed assets, January to September 2026
- Filling in the asset register
- Useful lives: book estimates and IRS classes
- Selling or scrapping an asset
- Book depreciation vs tax depreciation
- The checks, and what to do about each
- Where the numbers go: P&L, balance sheet, cash flow
- FAQ
1. What's in the template
- Inputs at the top: the business name, period starts (blank means January 1), schedule through (blank means the end of last month) and, optionally, the accumulated depreciation in your books at the period end, for the tie-out.
- Asset register (200 lines): asset, category (a drop-down from the summary), date placed in service, cost, salvage value, useful life in years, method (Straight-line, or Not depreciated for land and artwork) and the date disposed. It calculates depreciation per month, accumulated depreciation at the period start, depreciation this period, accumulated depreciation and book value at the period end, the month the asset is fully depreciated, a status (Depreciating, Fully depreciated, Not depreciated, Not in service yet, Disposed) and a check.
- Summary by category: a roll-forward for each fixed asset account: cost at start + additions − disposals = cost at end, and accumulated depreciation at start + depreciation − removed on disposal = accumulated at end, then book value.
- Journal entry for the period: debit Depreciation expense, credit Accumulated depreciation.
- Key figures and a status line, such as Jan 1, 2026 to Sep 30, 2026: depreciation 1,250.00; accumulated 10,000.00; book value 21,400.00 (7 assets, 2 fully depreciated); ties to the books.
Yellow cells are inputs; everything else is a formula. Grey helper columns to the right of the register (life in months, months in service, held at start and so on) drive the totals; leave them alone.
2. How straight-line depreciation is calculated
Straight-line spreads the part of an asset's cost you expect to use up evenly over its useful life:
- Depreciable amount = cost − salvage value.
- Depreciation per month = depreciable amount ÷ (useful life in years × 12). Per year it's the same as Excel's
SLN(cost, salvage, life). - Accumulated depreciation through a month = depreciable amount × months in service ÷ life in months, never more than the depreciable amount. The template rounds the accumulated figure to the cent rather than adding up rounded monthly amounts, so the last month absorbs the rounding and an asset ends exactly at its salvage value.
- Depreciation for the period = accumulated at the period end − accumulated at the period start.
- Book value (net book value) = cost − accumulated depreciation.
Convention: a full month of depreciation in the month the asset is placed in service, and none in the month it's disposed. A printer that went into use on April 10, 2025 for 14,400.00 with a 2,400.00 salvage value and a 10-year life depreciates (14,400.00 − 2,400.00) ÷ 120 = 100.00 a month from April 2025, so 900.00 by December 31, 2025 and another 900.00 from January to September 2026. Other conventions (half-month, half-year, starting the month after) give slightly different figures in the first and last year; pick one and use it for every asset.
3. Worked example: a studio's fixed assets, January to September 2026
The Example sheet is the fictional design studio from our trial balance, profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow statement templates. Its books show equipment of 24,600.00, furniture and fixtures of 6,800.00 and accumulated depreciation of 10,000.00 at September 30, 2026, after a 1,250.00 depreciation entry for January to September. The register behind those numbers:
| Asset | In service | Cost | Salvage | Life | Per month | Accum. Jan 1 | Jan–Sep | Accum. Sep 30 | Book value | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Computers and monitors | Jan 4, 2021 | 4,400.00 | 0.00 | 3 | 122.22 | 4,400.00 | 0.00 | 4,400.00 | 0.00 | Fully depreciated (Dec 2023) |
| Camera and lenses | Mar 15, 2022 | 3,000.00 | 0.00 | 3 | 83.33 | 3,000.00 | 0.00 | 3,000.00 | 0.00 | Fully depreciated (Feb 2025) |
| Large-format printer | Apr 10, 2025 | 14,400.00 | 2,400.00 | 10 | 100.00 | 900.00 | 900.00 | 1,800.00 | 12,600.00 | Depreciating |
| Vinyl cutter and heat press | Aug 12, 2026 | 2,800.00 | 400.00 | 5 | 40.00 | 0.00 | 80.00 | 80.00 | 2,720.00 | Depreciating |
| Old laser printer (sold) | Jun 3, 2019 | 1,200.00 | 0.00 | 5 | 20.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | Disposed (Mar 2025) |
| Desks, chairs and shelving | Oct 1, 2024 | 3,600.00 | 0.00 | 10 | 30.00 | 450.00 | 270.00 | 720.00 | 2,880.00 | Depreciating |
| Original artwork, reception | Oct 1, 2024 | 3,200.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3,200.00 | Not depreciated |
The summary by category rolls each account forward:
| Category | Cost Jan 1 | Additions | Cost Sep 30 | Accum. Jan 1 | Depreciation | Accum. Sep 30 | Book value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Equipment | 21,800.00 | 2,800.00 | 24,600.00 | 8,300.00 | 980.00 | 9,280.00 | 15,320.00 |
| Furniture and fixtures | 6,800.00 | 0.00 | 6,800.00 | 450.00 | 270.00 | 720.00 | 6,080.00 |
| Total | 28,600.00 | 2,800.00 | 31,400.00 | 8,750.00 | 1,250.00 | 10,000.00 | 21,400.00 |
The journal entry for the period is debit Depreciation expense 1,250.00, credit Accumulated depreciation 1,250.00, the trial balance template's adjusting entry AJE 1. Accumulated depreciation goes from 8,750.00 on the December 31, 2025 balance sheet to 10,000.00 at September 30, 2026, the 2,800.00 of additions is the cash flow statement's purchase of equipment, and with 10,000.00 typed as the books' figure the status line ends ties to the books. Two things to notice: the fully depreciated computers and camera stay on the register at full cost until they're disposed of (their book value is 0.00), and the artwork isn't depreciated at all because it doesn't wear out.
4. Filling in the asset register
| Column | What to type |
|---|---|
| Asset | A name you'll recognize, with a serial number or the vendor if there are several alike |
| Category | The fixed asset account it sits in (Equipment, Vehicles, Furniture and fixtures ...); the drop-down lists the categories in the summary |
| Placed in service | The date the asset was ready and available for use, which can be after the purchase date. Depreciation starts here. |
| Cost | The price plus what it took to get it working: delivery, installation, setup and sales tax. Not a later repair or the financing interest. |
| Salvage value | What you expect to sell it for at the end of its life. Often 0 for computers and furniture. |
| Useful life (years) | How long you expect to use it (section 5). Decimals work: 2.5 years is 30 months. |
| Method | Straight-line (also used when blank), or Not depreciated for land and artwork |
| Disposed on | The date you sold, scrapped, traded in or gave away the asset; blank while you still have it |
Finding the assets: your bank and card statements show every purchase. Go through the year's statements (converted to Excel, they can be sorted by amount) and pull out anything that will be used for more than a year and costs more than your capitalization threshold. Smaller items are simply expensed. For US taxes, the IRS de minimis safe harbor lets a business without audited financial statements expense items costing up to $2,500 per invoice or item if it makes the election; many small businesses use the same threshold in their books.
A new period just means changing the dates at the top: the register keeps every asset and recalculates the start and end figures. An asset placed in service after the period end shows Not in service yet and stays out of the totals until its date.
5. Useful lives: book estimates and IRS classes
For your books, useful life is an estimate of how long the business will use the asset. For US tax depreciation the IRS sets the recovery period by class (IRS Publication 946). Common starting points:
| Asset | Typical book life | MACRS class (tax) |
|---|---|---|
| Computers and peripherals | 3 to 5 years | 5-year property |
| Office machinery (copiers, printers) | 5 to 10 years | 5-year property |
| Cars and light trucks | 5 years | 5-year property |
| Office furniture and fixtures | 7 to 10 years | 7-year property |
| Machinery and equipment | 5 to 15 years | Mostly 7-year property (depends on the activity) |
| Leasehold improvements | The shorter of the lease term and the improvement's life | Usually 15-year qualified improvement property |
| Buildings | 25 to 40 years | 27.5 years residential rental, 39 years nonresidential |
| Land, artwork | Not depreciated | Not depreciable |
Software bought off the shelf is usually amortized over 3 years. Whatever lives you choose, use the same one for similar assets and write it down; your accountant may already have a policy.
6. Selling or scrapping an asset
Type the date in Disposed on. The template stops depreciation in the month before the disposal, and in the period of the disposal the summary removes the asset's cost (Disposals) and its accumulated depreciation (Removed on disposal), so it drops off the balance sheet totals. The register keeps the line, with status Disposed, as your record.
The gain or loss is what you received minus the book value at disposal (cost − accumulated depreciation removed). The journal entry: debit cash for the proceeds, debit accumulated depreciation, credit the asset's cost, and the difference to a gain or loss on sale account. In the Example, the old laser printer was fully depreciated and sold in March 2025, before the period, so it adds nothing to the 2026 figures.
7. Book depreciation vs tax depreciation
This template is for book depreciation: the figures in your financial statements. US tax depreciation follows its own rules and is usually different:
- MACRS recovery periods and conventions (half-year or mid-quarter for equipment, mid-month for buildings), often with a declining-balance method.
- Section 179 and bonus depreciation can deduct much or all of an asset's cost in the year it's placed in service.
- Tax depreciation is reported on Form 4562 with the return.
Many small businesses keep only the tax figures. If you do, use this register as the asset list (cost, dates, disposals) and let your tax preparer or tax software do the MACRS math. If your books follow GAAP or you need monthly statements for a lender, keep the straight-line schedule for the books and the tax schedule separately.
8. The checks, and what to do about each
A line that isn't OK is left out of every total, so the status line tells you how many need fixing before it shows any figures.
| Check | Means | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| No asset name | A line has figures but no name | Name it, or clear the line |
| No date | No date placed in service | Type the date the asset went into use |
| No cost | Cost is blank or 0 | Type the cost including delivery and setup |
| Salvage more than cost | The salvage value is above the cost | Lower the salvage value (it's often 0) |
| No category / Category not in summary | The category is blank or isn't one of the summary's categories | Pick from the drop-down, or add the category to the summary |
| Unknown method | Something other than Straight-line or Not depreciated | Pick from the drop-down |
| No useful life | A straight-line asset without a life in years | Type the life (section 5) |
| Disposed before in service | The disposal date is before the in-service date | Fix one of the dates |
If the key figure Books minus schedule isn't 0.00, look for an asset missing from the register, depreciation booked for a different period, a disposal that was never removed from the books or a different convention in the first month.
9. Where the numbers go: P&L, balance sheet, cash flow
| Figure | Goes to |
|---|---|
| Depreciation this period | The profit and loss as depreciation expense, through the journal entry (an adjusting entry on the trial balance) |
| Cost at end and accumulated depreciation at end | The balance sheet's fixed assets: cost less accumulated depreciation = book value |
| Depreciation this period, additions, disposal proceeds | The cash flow statement: depreciation is added back in operating activities, purchases and sales are investing activities |
| Additions | Usually a payment on a bank or card statement, or a loan: check each one against the statement when you reconcile |
Looking for asset purchases in bank statement PDFs?
Utilly's converter reads a bank or credit card statement PDF, downloaded or scanned, into Excel, CSV, QuickBooks or Xero files and checks the rows against the statement's beginning and ending balance, so you can sort a year of payments by amount and find every equipment purchase. The preview is free with no sign-up. Try it on the sample bank statement first: every download of the sample is free because the data is fictional.
Method: straight-line by month, a full month in the month placed in service and none in the month disposed; accumulated depreciation = ROUND((cost − salvage) × MIN(1, months in service ÷ life in months), 2); depreciation for the period = accumulated at the end − accumulated at the start. IRS classes from Publication 946; the de minimis safe harbor is in Treasury Regulation 1.263(a)-1(f). The business and assets are fictional; the totals are the trial balance, balance sheet and cash flow statement templates' figures for January to September 2026. Template built and checked November 4, 2026: the Example recalculates in LibreOffice to the figures above and the status line quoted in section 1. Not tax advice.
FAQ
Is the depreciation schedule template free?
Yes. Download the .xlsx with no sign-up or email address. It has a blank Depreciation schedule sheet with 200 asset lines and 9 starter categories, a filled-in Example and instructions, and it works in Excel, Google Sheets (File, Import), LibreOffice and Numbers.
How do I make a depreciation schedule in Excel?
List each fixed asset on its own row with the date placed in service, cost, salvage value and useful life. Depreciation per month is (cost - salvage) / (life in years x 12); accumulated depreciation is that amount times the months in service, capped at cost - salvage; book value is cost - accumulated depreciation. Total by category for the balance sheet. The template has these formulas done for any period you pick.
What is the formula for straight-line depreciation?
(Cost - salvage value) / useful life. For a 14,400.00 printer with a 2,400.00 salvage value and a 10-year life that's 1,200.00 a year or 100.00 a month. In Excel, SLN(14400, 2400, 10) returns the yearly figure.
When does depreciation start?
When the asset is placed in service: ready and available for its use, which can be later than the purchase date. The template gives a full month of depreciation in the month placed in service and none in the month an asset is disposed of; use one convention for every asset.
Do fully depreciated assets stay on the schedule?
Yes, until you sell, scrap or give them away. They stay on the balance sheet at cost with the same amount of accumulated depreciation, so their book value is 0 (or the salvage value). When you dispose of one, type the date in Disposed on and the template removes its cost and accumulated depreciation.
Is this the same as tax depreciation?
No. It's book depreciation, straight-line. US tax depreciation uses MACRS recovery periods and conventions, and Section 179 or bonus depreciation can deduct most or all of the cost in the first year; it's reported on Form 4562. Many small businesses use the register as the asset list and let their tax preparer work out the tax figures.
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