Using the MACRS Percentage Tables: Business Depreciation (2025 IRS Guide)

This guide covers “Using the MACRS Percentage Tables” within business depreciation. The following material presents the IRS treatment of this topic, including the qualifications, exceptions, and examples in the source section. Read the rules alongside the facts of your own situation before deciding what to report, deduct, or document.

Adapted from Publication 946 (2025), How To Depreciate Property, published by the Internal Revenue Service. This guide retains the source edition’s years, amounts, deadlines, and examples. It is guidance for that edition, not a statement that the same figures apply to every tax year.

Context for these rules

To figure your depreciation deduction under MACRS, you first determine the depreciation system, property class, placed in service date, basis amount, recovery period, convention, and depreciation method that apply to your property. Then, you are ready to figure your depreciation deduction. You can figure it using a percentage table provided by the IRS, or you can figure it yourself without using the table.

Using the MACRS Percentage Tables

To help you figure your deduction under MACRS, the IRS has established percentage tables that incorporate the applicable convention and depreciation method. These percentage tables are in Appendix A near the end of this publication.

Which table to use.

Appendix A contains the MACRS Percentage Table Guide, which is designed to help you locate the correct percentage table to use for depreciating your property. The percentage tables immediately follow the guide.

Rules Covering the Use of the Tables

The following rules cover the use of the percentage tables.

1. You must apply the rates in the percentage tables to your property’s unadjusted basis.

2. You cannot use the percentage tables for a short tax year. See Figuring the Deduction for a Short Tax Year, later, for information on the short tax year rules.

3. Once you start using the percentage tables for any item of property, you must generally continue to use them for the entire recovery period of the property.

4. You must stop using the tables if you adjust the basis of the property for any reason other than:

   1. Depreciation allowed or allowable, or

   2. An addition or improvement to that property that is depreciated as a separate item of property.

Basis adjustments other than those made due to the items listed in (4) include an increase in basis for the recapture of a clean-fuel deduction or credit and a reduction in basis for a casualty loss.

Basis adjustment due to recapture of clean-fuel vehicle deduction or credit.

If you increase the basis of your property because of the recapture of part or all of a deduction for clean-fuel vehicles or the credit for clean-fuel vehicle refueling property placed in service before January 1, 2006, you cannot continue to use the percentage tables. For the year of the adjustment and the remaining recovery period, you must figure the depreciation deduction yourself using the property’s adjusted basis at the end of the year. See Figuring the Deduction Without Using the Tables, later.

Basis adjustment due to casualty loss.

If you reduce the basis of your property because of a casualty, you cannot continue to use the percentage tables. For the year of the adjustment and the remaining recovery period, you must figure the depreciation yourself using the property’s adjusted basis at the end of the year. See Figuring the Deduction Without Using the Tables, later.

Example.

On October 26, 2024, Sandra and Frank Elm, calendar year taxpayers, bought and placed in service in their business a new item of 7-year property. It cost $39,000 and they elected a section 179 deduction of $24,000. They also made an election under section 168(k)(7) not to deduct the special depreciation allowance for 7-year property placed in service in 2024. Their unadjusted basis after the section 179 deduction was $15,000 ($39,000 – $24,000). They figured their MACRS depreciation deduction using the percentage tables. For 2024, their MACRS depreciation deduction was $536.

In July 2025, the property was vandalized and they had a deductible casualty loss of $3,000. Sandra and Frank must adjust the property’s basis for the casualty loss, so they can no longer use the percentage tables. Their adjusted basis at the end of 2025, before figuring their 2025 depreciation, is $11,464. They figure that amount by subtracting the 2024 MACRS depreciation of $536 and the casualty loss of $3,000 from the unadjusted basis of $15,000. They must now figure their depreciation for 2025 without using the percentage tables.

Figuring the Unadjusted Basis of Your Property

You must apply the table rates to your property’s unadjusted basis each year of the recovery period. Unadjusted basis is the same basis amount you would use to figure gain on a sale, but you figure it without reducing your original basis by any MACRS depreciation taken in earlier years. However, you do reduce your original basis by other amounts, including the following.

• Any amortization taken on the property.

• Any section 179 deduction claimed.

• Any special depreciation allowance taken on the property.

For business property you purchase during the year, the unadjusted basis is its cost minus these and other applicable adjustments. If you trade property, your unadjusted basis in the property received is the cash paid plus the adjusted basis of the property traded minus these adjustments.

MACRS Worksheet

You can use this worksheet to help you figure your depreciation deduction using the percentage tables. Use a separate worksheet for each item of property. Then, use the information from this worksheet to prepare Form 4562.

Caution:

Do not use this worksheet for automobiles. Use the Depreciation Worksheet for Passenger Automobiles in chapter 5.

MACRS Worksheet

The following example shows how to figure your MACRS depreciation deduction using the percentage tables and the MACRS Worksheet.

Example.

You bought office furniture (7-year property) for $10,000 and placed it in service on August 11, 2025. You use the furniture only for business. This is the only property you placed in service this year. You did not elect a section 179 deduction and the property is not qualified property for purposes of claiming a special depreciation allowance, so your property’s unadjusted basis is its cost, $10,000. You use GDS and the half-year convention to figure your depreciation. You refer to the MACRS Percentage Table Guide in Appendix A and find that you should use Table A-1. Multiply your property’s unadjusted basis each year by the percentage for 7-year property given in Table A-1. You figure your depreciation deduction using the MACRS Worksheet as follows.

MACRS Worksheet

If there are no adjustments to the basis of the property other than depreciation, your depreciation deduction for each subsequent year of the recovery period will be as follows.

Examples

The following examples are provided to show you how to use the percentage tables. In both examples, assume the following.

• You use the property only for business.

• You use the calendar year as your tax year.

• You use GDS for all the properties.

Example 1.

You bought a building and land for $120,000 and placed it in service on March 8. The sales contract showed that the building cost $100,000 and the land cost $20,000. It is nonresidential real property. The building’s unadjusted basis is its original cost, $100,000.

You refer to the MACRS Percentage Table Guide in Appendix A and find that you should use Table A-7a. March is the third month of your tax year, so multiply the building’s unadjusted basis, $100,000, by the percentages for the third month in Table A-7a. Your depreciation deduction for each of the first 3 years is as follows.

Example 2.

During the year, you bought a machine (7-year property) for $4,000, office furniture (7-year property) for $1,000, and a computer (5-year property) for $5,000. You placed the machine in service in January, the furniture in September, and the computer in October. You do not elect a section 179 deduction and none of these items are qualified property for purposes of claiming a special depreciation allowance.

You placed property in service during the last 3 months of the year, so you must first determine if you have to use the mid-quarter convention. The total bases of all property you placed in service during the year are $10,000. The $5,000 basis of the computer, which you placed in service during the last 3 months (the fourth quarter) of your tax year, is more than 40% of the total bases of all property ($10,000) you placed in service during the year. Therefore, you must use the mid-quarter convention for all three items.

You refer to the MACRS Percentage Table Guide in Appendix A to determine which table you should use under the mid-quarter convention. The machine is 7-year property placed in service in the first quarter, so you use Table A-2. The furniture is 7-year property placed in service in the third quarter, so you use Table A-4. Finally, because the computer is 5-year property placed in service in the fourth quarter, you use Table A-5. Knowing what table to use for each property, you figure the depreciation for the first 2 years as follows.

Sale or Other Disposition Before the Recovery Period Ends

If you sell or otherwise dispose of your property before the end of its recovery period, your depreciation deduction for the year of the disposition will be only part of the depreciation amount for the full year. You have disposed of your property if you have permanently withdrawn it from use in your business or income-producing activity because of its sale, exchange, retirement, abandonment, involuntary conversion, or destruction. After you figure the full-year depreciation amount, figure the deductible part using the convention that applies to the property.

Half-year convention used.

For property for which you used a half-year convention, the depreciation deduction for the year of the disposition is half the depreciation determined for the full year.

Mid-quarter convention used.

For property for which you used the mid-quarter convention, figure your depreciation deduction for the year of the disposition by multiplying a full year of depreciation by the percentage listed below for the quarter in which you disposed of the property.

Example.

On December 2, 2022, you placed in service an item of 5-year property costing $10,000. You did not claim a section 179 deduction and the property does not qualify for a special depreciation allowance. Your unadjusted basis for the property was $10,000. You used the mid-quarter convention because this was the only item of business property you placed in service in 2022 and it was placed in service during the last 3 months of your tax year. Your property is in the 5-year property class, so you used Table A-5 to figure your depreciation deduction. Your deductions for 2022, 2023, and 2024 were $500 (5% of $10,000), $3,800 (38% of $10,000), and $2,280 (22.80% of $10,000), respectively. You disposed of the property on April 6, 2025. To determine your depreciation deduction for 2025, first figure the deduction for the full year. This is $1,368 (13.68% of $10,000). April is in the second quarter of the year, so you multiply $1,368 by 37.5% (0.375) to get your depreciation deduction of $513 for 2025.

Mid-month convention used.

If you dispose of residential rental or nonresidential real property, figure your depreciation deduction for the year of the disposition by multiplying a full year of depreciation by a fraction. The numerator of the fraction is the number of months (including partial months) in the year that the property is considered in service. The denominator is 12.

Example.

On July 2, 2023, you purchased and placed in service residential rental property. The property cost $100,000, not including the cost of land. You used Table A-6 to figure your MACRS depreciation for this property. You sold the property on March 2, 2025. You file your tax return based on the calendar year.

A full year of depreciation for 2025 is $3,636. This is $100,000 multiplied by 0.03636 (the percentage for the seventh month of the third recovery year) from Table A-6. You then apply the mid-month convention for the 2½ months of use in 2025. Treat the month of disposition as one-half month of use. Multiply $3,636 by the fraction, 2.5 over 12, to get your 2025 depreciation deduction of $757.50.

Using the guidance

Keep the documents that establish the dates, amounts, and circumstances described above. References to other chapters, forms, worksheets, or earlier and later sections refer to the linked IRS publication. Check the full publication and its updates before relying on a rule for a different tax year or a situation not addressed here.

Sources and further reading

• Publication 946 (2025), How To Depreciate Property: Figuring Depreciation Under MACRS — How Is the Depreciation Deduction Figured? — Using the MACRS Percentage Tables — Internal Revenue Service; 2025 edition.

The cited U.S. government text is in the public domain. Source accessed October 28, 2026. Fynoptic has organized this material for educational use and is independent of, and not endorsed by, the IRS.