# What is my MACRS depreciation?

Builds the yearly MACRS tax depreciation schedule for 3- to 20-year property and residential rental property from the IRS Publication 946 percentage tables.

- Page: https://www.acalculator.org/finance/macrs-depreciation-calculator
- JSON spec: https://www.acalculator.org/finance/macrs-depreciation-calculator.json
- Version: 94c4a0901ec8

## Default answer

Example with the default inputs (Basis for depreciation $10,000.00, Property class 7-year property, Convention Half-year, Tax year placed in service 2026): $10,000.00 of 7-year property gives $1,429.00 of MACRS depreciation in the first year (Table A-1), with the last deduction in 2033.

## Inputs

| Key | Label | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| basis | Basis for depreciation | The cost or other basis of the business part, less any section 179 deduction and special allowance; for a building, leave out the land. |
| class | Property class | The recovery period: 5 years for cars and computers, 7 for office furniture and most equipment, 27.5 for a rental house. |
| conv | Convention | Half-year, unless more than 40% of the year’s property bases went into service in the last 3 months: then mid-quarter. |
| q | Quarter placed in service | The quarter of the tax year the property went into service: 1st is January to March. |
| month | Month placed in service | The month the rental property went into service (mid-month convention). |
| year | Tax year placed in service | The calendar tax year the property went into service; it labels the rows. |

## Outputs

| Key | Label | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| first | Depreciation in the first year | Basis × the first-year rate ÷ 100. |
| rate | First-year rate | The table’s percent of the basis for recovery year 1. |
| table | IRS table | The Publication 946 table the rates come from. |
| total | Total depreciation | The sum of every year: the whole basis, because the rates add up to 100%. |
| years | Tax years with a deduction | How many tax years the schedule runs. |
| last | Last tax year | The tax year of the final deduction. |

## Method

Depreciation for a recovery year = basis × the Publication 946 table rate for that year ÷ 100. The table follows the property class and convention: Table A-1 (half-year), A-2 to A-5 (mid-quarter, by quarter placed in service), A-6 (27.5-year residential rental, by month).

## Assumptions

- General Depreciation System (GDS) with the IRS percentage tables: 200% declining balance for 3- to 10-year property, 150% for 15- and 20-year property, straight line for residential rental property.
- A calendar tax year, and the property is kept for the whole recovery period. A year of sale or a short tax year deducts less.
- The basis is the business part after any section 179 deduction and special depreciation allowance, without land.
- Arithmetic is exact on the typed basis; money shows to the cent, halves rounded up.

## Worked examples

1. basis = $10,000.00, class = 7, conv = half-year, year = 2025 gives first = $1,429.00, rate = 14.29%, table = Table A-1, total = $10,000.00, years = 8, last = 2032. Source: IRS, Publication 946 (2025), How To Depreciate Property, chapter 4 and Appendix A, https://www.irs.gov/publications/p946, MACRS Worksheet example: $10,000 × 14.29% = $1,429.
2. basis = $4,000.00, class = 7, conv = mid-quarter, q = 1, year = 2026 gives first = $1,000.00, rate = 25%, table = Table A-2, years = 8, last = 2033. Source: IRS, Publication 946 (2025), How To Depreciate Property, chapter 4 and Appendix A, https://www.irs.gov/publications/p946, Example 2: machine, Table A-2, $4,000 × 25.00% = $1,000 (year 2: 21.43%, $857).
3. basis = $1,000.00, class = 7, conv = mid-quarter, q = 3, year = 2026 gives first = $107.10, rate = 10.71%, table = Table A-4. Source: IRS, Publication 946 (2025), How To Depreciate Property, chapter 4 and Appendix A, https://www.irs.gov/publications/p946, Example 2: furniture, Table A-4, $1,000 × 10.71% = $107 (rounded there to the dollar).
4. basis = $5,000.00, class = 5, conv = mid-quarter, q = 4, year = 2026 gives first = $250.00, rate = 5%, table = Table A-5, years = 6, last = 2031. Source: IRS, Publication 946 (2025), How To Depreciate Property, chapter 4 and Appendix A, https://www.irs.gov/publications/p946, Example 2: computer, Table A-5, $5,000 × 5.00% = $250 (year 2: 38.00%, $1,900).
5. basis = $100,000.00, class = 27.5, month = 7, year = 2023 gives first = $1,667.00, rate = 1.667%, table = Table A-6, years = 29, last = 2051. Source: IRS, Publication 946 (2025), How To Depreciate Property, chapter 4 and Appendix A, https://www.irs.gov/publications/p946, mid-month example: Table A-6, seventh month.
6. basis = $250,000.00, class = 20, conv = mid-quarter, q = 1, year = 2026 gives first = $16,407.50, rate = 6.563%, table = Table A-2, years = 21, last = 2046. Source: IRS, Publication 946 (2025), How To Depreciate Property, chapter 4 and Appendix A, https://www.irs.gov/publications/p946, Table A-2, 20-year column: 250,000 × 6.563% = 16,407.50.

## FAQ

### What is MACRS depreciation?

MACRS, the Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System, is how US tax law spreads the cost of business and rental property over several years. Each class has a recovery period (5 years for cars and computers, 7 for office furniture, 27.5 for a rental house), and the IRS publishes a table of the percent of the basis to deduct in each year.

### How do I calculate MACRS depreciation?

Multiply the basis by the table rate for each year. Office furniture (7-year property) that cost $10,000 under the half-year convention gives $10,000 × 14.29% = $1,429 in the first year, then 24.49%, 17.49%, 12.49%, 8.93%, 8.92%, 8.93% and 4.46%: $2,449, $1,749, $1,249, $893, $892, $893 and $446.

### Which convention do I use?

Use the half-year convention for property other than buildings, unless more than 40% of the total basis of the property you placed in service during the year went into service in the last 3 months of the tax year. Then every item placed in service that year uses the mid-quarter convention, with the table for its quarter. Residential rental property always uses the mid-month convention.

### Why does 5-year property take 6 tax years?

The conventions treat property as placed in service partway through the first year: the middle of the year (half-year), the middle of the quarter, or the middle of the month. The first year gets only part of a full year, so the last part spills into one more tax year. 5-year property under the half-year convention deducts 20%, 32%, 19.20%, 11.52%, 11.52% and 5.76%.

### What basis do I enter?

The cost or other basis of the property times the business-use share, less any section 179 deduction and any special depreciation allowance (bonus depreciation) you claim. For a building, leave out the value of the land, which is never depreciated.

### What about bonus depreciation?

A special depreciation allowance is taken first, and MACRS applies to the basis that is left. If you take a 100% allowance, nothing is left to depreciate under MACRS. Residential rental buildings (27.5-year property) do not qualify for the allowance. Enter the basis after the allowance.

### What happens in the year I sell the property?

The deduction for that year is smaller. Under the half-year convention you take half of the year’s table amount; under the mid-quarter and mid-month conventions you count the quarter or month of sale as half used. This calculator assumes you keep the property for the whole recovery period.

### Does this cover commercial buildings?

No. Nonresidential real property (39 years) uses Table A-7a, which this calculator does not include. It covers Tables A-1 to A-6: 3-, 5-, 7-, 10-, 15- and 20-year property and 27.5-year residential rental property.

## Sources

- IRS, Publication 946 (2025), How To Depreciate Property, chapter 4: MACRS percentage tables (multiply the unadjusted basis by the table percentage each year), the half-year, mid-quarter (more than 40% of bases in the last 3 months) and mid-month conventions, the MACRS Worksheet example ($10,000 of 7-year office furniture), Example 2 (mid-quarter: $4,000 machine, $1,000 furniture, $5,000 computer) and the July residential rental example; Appendix A, Tables A-1 to A-6 (images on the page). https://www.irs.gov/publications/p946 (retrieved 2026-10-19)
- Cornell Law School, Legal Information Institute, 26 U.S. Code § 168, Accelerated cost recovery system: 200% declining balance for 3- to 10-year property, 150% for 15- and 20-year property, straight line over 27.5 years for residential rental property, and the conventions. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/168 (retrieved 2026-10-19)