USA Write off fully amortized assets

[michelle s]

We internally develop our own software. We amortize the cost over a 3 year period. We have never written off zero balance assets. We are continually improving our software. Our auditors advised that we need to begin writing off the fully amortized assets. My questions are these: can we write off all assets from a particular year? So, say everything from our first year of operation, and each year write off the following year? Can we write of the primary purchase of software that is fully amortized but that which we continually improve upon and the improvements are not yet fully amortized? Can we for all intents and purposes write off as we see fit as long as it makes sense and we are consistent? Any guidance on this? I've tried to find guidance on fasb.org but haven't found anything concrete.

 

[kirby]

Software asset has no salvage value which means the net of the software asset and the software accum amortization is zero. Once you hit zero is the point to remove the software asset and its accum amortization. Else it just grosses up both the software asset and accum amortization accts to no benefit. WARNING - Some states (Washington State) place a tangible personal property tax on software - so you have to see if clearing these accts will disrupt your ability to report those assets.