MACRS depreciation tables

These are the IRS's optional percentage tables for the General Depreciation SystemGDS. General Depreciation System, the default MACRS system. Uses 200% or 150% declining balance for personal property and straight line for buildings. Glossary, transcribed from Publication 946 (2025), Appendix A [Pub 946, App. A]. Multiply the asset's unadjusted depreciable basis (after any §179 and bonus depreciation) by the percentage for each recovery year. Our tests recompute every column from the statutory method; each column sums to 100%.

A-1A-2A-3A-4A-5 A-6 A-7a

Which table do I use?

• Buildings: residential rental property uses Table A-6 and nonresidential real property uses Table A-7a (39 years; the older 31.5-year Table A-7 is for buildings placed in service before May 13, 1993). Pick the column for the month placed in service (mid-month conventionConvention. The MACRS rule for how much of the first and last year counts: half-year, mid-quarter or mid-month. Glossary).
• Everything else (3- to 20-year property): use Table A-1 (half-year convention) unless the mid-quarter convention applies to you this year.
• Mid-quarter convention: applies when more than 40% of the depreciable basis of the personal property you placed in service during the year went into service in the last three months. Then use Table A-2, A-3, A-4 or A-5 according to the quarter each asset was placed in service [Pub 946, ch. 4].

Not sure of the recovery period? Use the asset recovery period finder. Want the dollar amounts? The calculator uses these exact tables.

Example

Office furniture costing $10,000 placed in service in March, no §179 or bonus, half-year convention: year 1 is $10,000 × 14.29% = $1,429; year 2 is $10,000 × 24.49% = $2,449; and so on through year 8 at 4.46%. Furniture is 7-year property, but the half-year convention spreads it over eight tax years.

Notes on the tables

• The IRS rounds some rates so that each column adds to exactly 100%; for example, Table A-1's 3-year column reads 33.33, 44.45, 14.81, 7.41. Using the published rates is what the IRS instructions expect.
• The percentages are for a full 12-month tax year. Short tax years and dispositions before the end of the recovery period follow different rules [Pub 946, ch. 4].
• Tables for the Alternative Depreciation System (A-8 to A-13) and 150% declining balance elections (A-14 onward) are in the same appendix and are not reproduced here.