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MACRS

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This entry includes information pertaining to a highly technical subject. If you can help make it simpler, please do so. Also, remember to seek advice from your professional financial and legal advisors on financial, accounting and tax issues. See also: General disclaimer.

The Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS) is the current method of accelerated asset depreciation required by the U.S. income tax code. Under MACRS, all assets are divided into classes which dictate the number of years over which an asset's cost will be recovered.

ACRS

Prior to the Accelerated Cost Recovery System (ACRS), most capital purchases were depreciated using a straight-line method that gave a linear depreciation of the asset over its useful life. ACRS was in force from 1975-1983 in the United States, under the Economic Recovery Tax Act (ERTA) of 1981. ACRS was unique in three ways: property class lives were established, calculations were based on an estimated salvage value of zero, and shorter recovery periods were used to calculate annual depreciation. This resulted in an accelerated write-off of capital costs (in comparison to that available using straight-line depreciation) and was the source of the name of course.

Depreciation under ACRS = 4 x Straight Line Depreciation

MACRS

MACRS replaced ACRS in the United States in 1986 with the passing of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 (TRA-86), as the depreciation method condoned by the IRS and is in force today. It is exceedingly similar to ACRS save for two key features; the number of property classes was expanded, and a half-year convention was added to simplify the first and final years of a property's recovery life. It was meant to stimulate capital purchasing by lowering the after-tax net present value, allowing for faster depreciation of capital assets. MACRS allows for more depreciation towards the beginning of the life of the capital asset (similar to double declining balance), allowing the depreciation tax-deductible to be taken sooner, thus allowing a company to retain more income early in the depreciation cycle. In essence, it's a more "front-loaded" tax benefit.

Your use of either the General Depreciation System (GDS) or the Alternative Depreciation System (ADS) to depreciate property under MACRS determines what depreciation method and recovery period you use. You generally must use GDS unless you are specifically required by law to use ADS or you elect to use ADS.

Each system differs largely in the class lives of property, illustrated in the tables below.

MACRS Examples

For example, office equipment is depreciated with a class life of seven years, and water vessels are depreciated over ten years. Each MACRS class has a predetermined schedule, which determines the percentage of the asset's cost which is depreciated each year (see tables). Specifically, to calculate the depreciation charge for recovery tax year six of a Municipal sewage treatment plant that had an original cost of 2.2 Million:

  1. Look up its property class (GDS class life): 15-Year property
  2. Trace down the percentage table along 15-Year property to year 6: 6.23%
  3. Multiply the original cost by the value found in the table: 0.0623 * $2,200,000 = $137,060

The depreciation charge is $137,060.

MACRS Property Classes Table

IRS Asset Classes Asset Description ADS Class Life GDS Class Life
00.11 Office furniture, fixtures, and equipment 10 8
00.12 Information systems: computers/peripherals 6 5
00.22 Automobiles, taxis 2 5
00.241 Light general-purpose trucks 4 5
00.25 Railroad cars and locomotives 15 7
00.40 Industrial steam and electric distribution 22 3
01.11 Cotton gin assets 10 7
01.21 Cattle, breeding or dairy 7 5
13.00 Offshore drilling assets 7.5 5
13.30 Petroleum refining assets 16 10
15.00 Construction assets 6 5
20.10 Manufacture of grain and grain mill products 17 10
20.20 Manufacture of yarn, thread, and woven fabric 11 7
24.10 Cutting of timber 6 5
32.20 Manufacture of cement 20 15
20.1 Manufacture of motor vehicles 12 7
48.10 Telephone distribution plant 24 15
48.2 Radio and television broadcasting equipment 6 5
49.12 Electric utility nuclear production plant 20 15
49.13 Electric utility steam production plant 28 20
49.23 Natural gas production plant 14 7
50.00 Municipal wastewater treatment plant 24 15
80.00 Theme and amusement park assets 12.5 7
  • The depreciation deduction for automobiles is limited to $7660 (maximum) the first tax year, $4900 the second, $2950 the third year, and $1775 per year in subsequent years.

MACRS GDS Property Classes Table

Property Class Personal Property (all property except real-estate)
3-year property Special handling devices for food and beverage manufacture.
Special tools for the manufacture of finished plastic products, fabricated metal products, and motor vehicles
Property with ADR class life of 4 years or less
5-year property Information Systems; Computers / Peripherals
Aircraft and parts (of non-air-transport companies)
Computers
Petroleum drilling equipment
Property with ADR class life of more than 4 years and less than 10 years
Certain geothermal, solar, and wind energy properties.
7-year property All other property not assigned to another class
Office furniture, fixtures, and equipment
Property with ADR class life of more than 10 years and less than 16 years
10-year property Assets used in petroleum refining and certain food products
Vessels and water transportation equipment
Property with ADR class life of 16 years or more and less than 20 years
15-year property Telephone distribution plants
Municipal sewage treatment plants
Property with ADR class life of 20 years or more and less than 25 years
20-year property Municipal sewers
Property with ADR class life of 25 years or more
Property Class Real Property (real estate)
27.5-year property Residential rental property (does not include hotels and motels)
39-year property Non-residential real property

MACRS Applicable Percentage for Property Class

Recovery Year 3-Year Property 5-Year Property 7-Year Property 10-Year Property 15-Year Property 20-Year Property
1 33.33 20.00 14.29 10.00 5.00 3.750
2 44.45 32.00 24.49 18.00 9.50 7.219
3 14.81 * 19.20 17.49 14.40 8.55 6.677
4 7.41 11.52 * 12.49 11.52 7.70 6.177
5 11.52 8.93 * 9.22 6.93 5.713
6 5.76 8.92 7.37 6.23 5.285
7 8.93 6.55 * 5.90 * 4.888
8 4.46 6.55 5.90 4.522
9 6.56 5.91 4.462 *
10 6.55 5.90 4.461
11 3.28 5.91 4.462
12 5.90 4.461
13 5.91 4.462
14 5.90 4.461
15 5.91 4.462
16 2.95 4.461
17 4.462
18 4.461
19 4.462
20 4.461
21 2.231
  • The 3-, 5-, 7-, and 10-year classes use 200% and the 15- and 20-year classes use 150% declining balance depreciation.
  • All classes convert to straight-line depreciation in the optimal year, shown with an asterisk (*).
  • A half-year depreciation is allowed in the first and last recovery years.
  • If more than 40% of the year's MACRS property is placed in service in the last three months, then a mid-quarter convention must be used with depreciation tables that are not shown here.

MACRS Percentage for Real Property (real estate) Table

Recovery Year Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Month 6 Month 7 Month 8 Month 9 Month 10 Month 11 Month 12
1 2.461 2.247 2.033 1.819 1.605 1.391 1.177 0.963 0.749 0.535 0.321 0.107
2-39 2.564 2.564 2.564 2.564 2.564 2.564 2.564 2.564 2.564 2.564 2.564 2.564
40 0.107 0.321 0.535 0.749 0.963 1.177 1.391 1.605 1.819 2.033 2.247 2.461
  • The useful life is 39 years for nonresidential real property. Depreciation is straight line using the mid-month convention. Thus a property placed in service in January would be allowed 11 1/2 months depreciation for recovery Year 1.

See also

Sources

  • U.S. Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service Publication 946, How to Depreciate Property. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. HTML PDF
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This entry includes content from the following Wikipedia article: MACRS