Instant Asset Write-off Calculator

Who is eligible

Your aggregated annual turnover must be under $10 million. That cap has not moved, and it is the binding constraint for a growing practice: a group that crosses it loses the concession entirely rather than having it tapered.

The asset must be first used or installed ready for use in the income year you claim it. Buying an asset in June but not unpacking it until July pushes the deduction into the next financial year, which is a real and avoidable cost for equipment delivered late in the year.

Second-hand assets are eligible for small businesses under this threshold. That was not always true, and it remains a common misconception that the write-off is limited to new equipment.

The threshold is now permanent, and that is new

The $20,000 threshold was extended year by year for most of the last decade, which meant practices could not plan a purchase against it with any confidence. From 1 July 2026 it is permanent, legislated rather than extended.

The practical effect is that timing a purchase to catch an extension is no longer a reason to buy. If the asset is needed in 2026-27, the deduction is available in 2026-27 and in every year after it.

What happens when the asset is over the threshold

Assets that cost $20,000 or more are placed in the simplified depreciation pool. The pool gives you 15% of the cost in the first year and 30% in each subsequent year on the declining balance.

Two further rules matter. A pool balance below $20,000 at year end can be written off immediately, so the pool does not run indefinitely. And the five-year lockout that used to apply if you stopped using the pool is suspended until 30 June 2027, so a practice can leave and re-enter without losing the concession.

Together those mean even expensive assets are eventually deducted in full, just not all at once. The cost of being over the threshold is the timing of the deduction, not its availability.

Business use percentage matters

You can only deduct the business portion of the asset. If a vehicle is used 70% for practice visits and 30% personally, only 70% of the cost goes into the write-off or the pool.

Keeping a logbook is the safest way to substantiate the business percentage. Estimates are allowed but must be reasonable, and the ATO can ask for the evidence behind them.

GST and the cost figure

If the practice is registered for GST, the threshold is tested against the GST-exclusive cost, because the GST is claimed back as a credit. If it is not registered, the GST-inclusive cost is the figure that counts.

That difference can move an asset across the threshold on its own. A $21,000 GST-inclusive purchase is $19,091 GST-exclusive, which is under the threshold for a registered practice and over it for an unregistered one.

Worked example: a dental practice's equipment year

Take a GST-registered dental practice that buys an intraoral scanner for $18,500 (GST-exclusive) in March 2027 and starts using it the same month. Because the cost is under the $20,000 threshold, the whole $18,500 is deductible in the 2026-27 year in one line, rather than being spread over several years.

In the same year the practice also replaces a dental chair and delivery unit for $32,000 (GST-exclusive). That is over the threshold, so it cannot be written off immediately: it goes into the simplified depreciation pool instead, deducted at 15% in the first year ($4,800) and 30% of the declining balance in each year after ($8,160 in year two, on the $27,200 that remains). The scanner and the chair are bought from the same supplier in the same month, but the $13,500 difference in price puts them on two completely different depreciation timelines.