How does depreciation of assets work for freelancers and consultants?
Equipment used by a freelancer for the purpose of their work is generally termed as capital assets. Laptops, for instance, are capital assets. Buying a laptop is considered as an expense towards the work that you are doing and hence should be set off against your income for the year, to arrive at your taxable income. However, you cannot claim the entire purchase amount as an expense when filing a tax return.