Effective life of intangible depreciating assets

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The effective life of most intangible depreciating assets is prescribed under the UCA .

Asset	Effective life in years
Standard patent	20
Innovation patent	8
Petty patent	6
Registered design	15
Copyright (except copyright in a film)	The shorter of 25 years from when you acquire it or the period until the copyright ends
A licence (except one relating to a copyright or in-house software)	The term of the licence
A licence relating to a copyright (except copyright in a film)	The shorter of 25 years from when you become the licensee or the period until the licence ends
In-house software	2
Spectrum licence	The term of the licence
Datacasting transmitter licence	15
A mining, quarrying or prospecting right relating to mining operations (except obtaining petroleum or quarry materials)	The life of the mine or proposed mine or, if there is more than one, the life of the mine that has the longest estimated life
A mining, quarrying or prospecting right relating to mining operations to obtain petroleum	The life of the petroleum field or proposed petroleum field
A mining, quarrying or prospecting right relating to mining operations to obtain quarry materials	The life of the quarry or proposed quarry or, if there is more than one, the life of the quarry that has the longest estimated life
Telecommunications site access right	The term of the right

You do not have a choice to either work out the effective life yourself or use an effective life determined by the Commissioner for the intangible depreciating assets in the table above. In addition, the effective life of these depreciating assets cannot be recalculated.

The effective life of an indefeasible right to use a telecommunications cable system is the effective life of the telecommunications cable over which the right is granted.

The effective life of any other intangible depreciating asset cannot be longer than the term of the asset as extended by any reasonably assured extension or renewal of that term.

If you acquire any of the intangible assets listed in the above table (except items 5, 7 or 8) from a former holder and you choose to calculate the asset's decline in value using the prime cost method, in the formula you must use, not the effective life shown in the table, but the number of years remaining in that effective life at the start of the income year you acquired the asset.

Last modified: 27 Aug 2007QC 27892