The rules · sources read on or since 7 September 2026
How much can a corporation claim on equipment in the year it buys it?
Capital cost allowance is claimed on a declining balance at the class rate — 55% for computers in class 50, 20% for class 8 equipment — and for property acquired before 2028 the accelerated investment incentive suspends the half-year rule, so the whole cost enters the first year's base.
The classes, and the rate each one carries
Depreciable property goes into a class, and the class carries the rate. Computers and systems software are class 50 at 55% — the class a consultancy hits most. Furniture, equipment and tools costing $500 or more are class 8 at 20%. Tools under $500 and non-systems software are class 12 at 100%. Goodwill and incorporation costs over the $3,000 expensing threshold are class 14.1 at 5%.
Vehicles are class 10 at 30%, unless the passenger vehicle cost more than the ceiling — $39,000 before tax for a 2026 acquisition — in which case it is class 10.1, one class per car, entered at the ceiling rather than at what was paid. A zero-emission vehicle has its own ceiling of $61,000.
The first year is not half a year any more
The half-year rule used to mean that an asset bought in year one earned half the usual claim, on the reasoning that it was owned for part of the year. The accelerated investment incentive suspends that rule for property acquired before 2028 and available for use in the year, so the whole capital cost enters the base and the first year's claim is the full class rate on it.
A $3,000 laptop in class 50 therefore produces a first-year claim of $1,650 — 55% of $3,000 — and carries $1,350 of undepreciated capital cost into the next year. Under the old half-year rule it would have been $825.
CRA also publishes enhanced first-year measures that are *proposed* rather than enacted, including a 100% first-year deduction for class 50. LedgerLodge does not apply a proposed rule: a deduction taken on a rule that has not passed is one that has to be given back.
What makes this worth getting right
The mistake is not claiming too little. It is treating a capital purchase as an expense — deducting the whole laptop in the year it was bought — which overstates the deduction, understates the balance carried forward, and is wrong on the T2 rather than merely suboptimal.
The threshold is a judgement rather than a bright line. Roughly $500 is where an item stops being a supply and starts being property with a useful life, and it is worth deciding once and applying consistently rather than case by case.
Capital cost allowance is also optional in amount: a corporation may claim less than the maximum in a year, and the unclaimed balance stays in the pool. That is a planning choice, made with a CPA, on a year's whole picture — not a setting a calculator should guess at.
Where this comes from
- CRA — Classes of depreciable property — read 7 September 2026.
- CRA — Accelerated investment incentive — read 7 September 2026.
- Department of Finance Canada — 2026 automobile deduction limits and expense benefit rates — read 14 September 2026.
Questions
First-year CCA and the half-year rule.
Does the half-year rule still apply in 2026?
Not to property acquired before 2028 and available for use in the year. The accelerated investment incentive suspends it, so the whole capital cost enters the first year's base and the claim is the full class rate on it.
What CCA class is a laptop in?
Class 50, at 55% on a declining balance. A $3,000 laptop bought in 2026 therefore produces a first-year claim of $1,650 and carries $1,350 forward.
Can a corporation deduct a computer in full in the year it is bought?
No. A computer is depreciable property, claimed over years at the class 50 rate of 55%, not deducted as an expense. The 100% first-year deduction CRA lists for class 50 is a proposed measure and is not applied here.
What is the CCA ceiling on a passenger vehicle for 2026?
$39,000 before tax for a vehicle acquired in 2026, and $61,000 for a zero-emission vehicle. A car above the ceiling goes into class 10.1 at the ceiling, one class per vehicle.
Does a corporation have to claim the maximum CCA every year?
No. The claim may be anything from nil up to the maximum, and what is not claimed stays in the pool for later years. Choosing the amount is a planning decision for a year's whole picture rather than an arithmetic one.
Put a number on it.
LedgerLodge applies this rule to every record as it is entered, stores the calculation snapshot that produced the figure, and carries both into the year-end package your accountant works from. It prepares the figures a return is built from; it does not file anything.