Capital Equipment

OVERVIEW

Capital equipment is any equipment item meeting all three of the below criteria:

• Total acquisition costs of $10,000 or more

• A useful life of at least 1 year

• Acquired for use in operations (not for investment or sale)

Capital equipment differs from equipment under $10,000 because capital expenditures are depreciated every year so that Harvard has a more accurate record of the value of its total assets. Most capital equipment ordered in labs will fall into the scientific depreciation category of having a useful life of 8 years.

There are two main types of Capital Equipment; Standalone equipment (such as a Microscope) and Fabrications (such as an optical set-up consisting of many components). For more information about Capital Equipment, please see the University's Financial Management of Property, Plant and Equipment Policy.

In order to help SEAS comply with all University and external requirements regarding the tracking of capital equipment, all equipment over $10,000 needs to have a tag number associated with it.

• If you are constructing an equipment fabrication, or are purchasing multiple pieces of equipment that will be combined to operate as a system, please reach out to sciequip@fas.harvard.edu to request a tag number prior to making any equipment purchases.
• If you are purchasing standalone equipment, you do not need to request a tag before purchasing and the equipment manager will reach out to coordinate the tagging once the equipment arrives on campus.

***Policy Update*** Due to a change in the US Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Uniform Guidance, the threshold for capitalizing equipment will rise from $5,000 to $10,000 beginning 7/1/25.

- Exception: federal awards that began prior to 7/1/25 will use the $5,000 threshold for the life of the award.

- All assets capitalized prior to 7/1/25 with cost less than $10,000 will remain on the books and depreciate over their useful lives.

For questions on how this policy change applies to specific situations please reach out to accountinghelp@seas.harvard.edu.
 

Capital Equipment Object Codes

The following are object codes that are used when a capital asset/fabrication is purchased. The majority of the time, object codes 6811-6814 will be used because they correspond with direct costs to a non-sponsored or sponsored project.