Working out the effective life yourself

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This information may not apply to the current year. Check the content carefully to ensure it is applicable to your circumstances.

End of attention

The sort of information which you could use to make an estimate of effective life of an asset includes:

• the physical life of the asset
• engineering information
• the manufacturer's specifications
• your own past experience with similar assets
• the past experience of other users of similar assets
• the level of repairs and maintenance commonly adopted by users of the asset
• retention periods
• scrapping or abandonment practices.

You work out the effective life of a depreciating asset from the asset's start time.