Straight Line Rule

Method of depreciating an asset in which its useful life is divided into an appropriate number of years (or other periods), the final salvage value is deducted, and the asset is written off in an equal portion for each period. Depreciation is a business expense for tax purposes. Straight line depreciation is the simplest method, but is not as advantageous to an owner as accelerated depreciation, which allows a company to recover its costs more quickly.