Straight-Line Amortization Calculator

Annual amortization = (Cost − Salvage value) ÷ Useful life in years. This spreads the depreciable amount evenly across every year of the asset's useful life, unlike MACRS or declining-balance methods, which front-load larger deductions into the early years.

They use the identical straight-line math — 'depreciation' is the term used for tangible assets (equipment, buildings, vehicles), while 'amortization' is used for intangible assets (patents, trademarks, loan origination costs, bond premiums) and certain lease-related costs. This calculator works for either.

The estimated value of the asset at the end of its useful life — what you could still sell or scrap it for. If an asset has no expected residual value, enter 0 and the full cost depreciates evenly over its useful life.

Straight-line is simpler, more predictable for budgeting, and required for financial (GAAP) reporting purposes for many asset types — even when a business uses MACRS for its tax return, it often still needs a separate straight-line schedule for its financial statements, since tax and book depreciation don't have to match.

Book value = Cost − accumulated depreciation to date. It starts at the full cost and decreases by the same annual amount each year until it reaches the salvage value at the end of the useful life — the full year-by-year schedule below shows both the depreciation taken and the resulting book value for each year.