Download the fixed asset register template (Excel, 1 file)
The workbook is free and needs no sign-up. Yellow cells are yours to fill in; everything else is a formula, so the Companies Act and Income-tax figures follow as you add assets. The example rows show a machine, a building, laptops, a solar plant, a forklift bought five days before the year end and a truck sold during the year.
What is in the fixed asset register format
| Sheet | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Read me | The financial year dates every formula reads, and how to fill each part |
| Register | One row per asset: the asset details, the Companies Act book, the Income-tax book and any sale |
| Income-tax blocks | The block-wise working: opening WDV, additions at full and half rate, sale price, depreciation, closing WDV |
| Schedule II lives | The common useful lives from Part C, for the class dropdown |
| Income-tax block rates | The common block rates, for the block dropdown |
The Companies Act columns
| Column | What to enter or what it works out |
|---|---|
| Schedule II class | Pick from the list: factory buildings, plant and machinery, computers and so on |
| Useful life and residual | The life in years, and a residual of up to 5% of cost |
| Depreciation before this year | What your audited register says has already been charged |
| Depreciation this year | Straight line, by the day, from the later of the date put to use and the start of the year, stopping at the residual |
| Carrying amount | Cost less everything charged to date |
| Profit or loss on a sale | Sale price less the carrying amount |
The Income-tax columns and the block working
| Column | What to enter or what it works out |
|---|---|
| Block and rate | Pick the block; the rate comes from the list, such as 15% for plant and machinery or 40% for computers |
| Days in use this year | For an addition, the days from the date put to use to the year end |
| Rate this year | Full at 180 days or more, half below, and “in opening WDV” for assets bought before the year |
On the blocks sheet you enter each block’s opening written-down value from last year’s tax audit report. The sheet adds the year’s additions at full and half rate, takes off the sale price of anything sold, and works out depreciation and the closing written-down value. If a sale price is more than the whole block, the excess shows as a short-term capital gain under section 50.
What the template leaves out
Schedule II’s extra shift depreciation, component accounting, impairment, leases, revaluation and deferred tax are not worked out by the spreadsheet. Add them by hand, or keep the register where they are handled. Check the lives and rates against Schedule II and the Income-tax rates in force for your year before relying on them.
When the register outgrows Excel
A spreadsheet register works for a small number of assets in one place. It starts to fail when several people edit it, when additions and sales have to be keyed into both books, and when the monthly charge and the year-end blocks take days to rebuild.
In Asset Infinity the same register runs both books from one record per asset: Schedule II lives with extra shift depreciation from hour meters, Income-tax blocks with the 180-day rule, one disposal record with a result in each book, and journals for your general ledger. The Companies Act and Income-tax depreciation use case shows a full year, the depreciation explained video walks through each rule, and how to prepare a fixed asset register covers the fields every register needs.