How to stop, resume or change the useful life of an asset

What is it for?

A tangible fixed asset “In use” that is depreciated every month may, for a while, stop being used (for example, a broken printer), or the company may conclude that it will last more or fewer years than planned. The product has a wizard for all three situations: stop the depreciation, resume it and change the accounting useful life. In every case it asks for the reason, which stays in the asset's history. This article explains what each operation does, what it does not do (stopping does not cancel instalments) and how the depreciation board is updated.

When to use it?

• An asset is out of use and you want it left out of the monthly depreciation batch until it works again.
• The useful life estimate has changed and you want the future instalments to reflect the new number of years.
• You want to see the effect of a different useful life without saving anything (the simulation, at the end of the article).
• Do not use this operation to sell or scrap the asset (see scrap or sell an asset) or to correct instalments already posted: periods already processed never change.

Where to find it?

Accounting › Record › Partners and assets › Fixed assets. Open the form of an asset In use (the list opens with the In use filter; to see stopped assets, remove the filter). The commands are in the Actions button, Bookkeeping group: Stop and Stop / change useful life. On a stopped asset, the Resume button appears next to it, in the header.

Before you start

• Your profile is Accountant (tested with it). The Fiscal officer can also do it. Management and the Auditor cannot: they open the form, but the header only has Asset dossier (PDF).
• The asset is In use (to stop it and to change the useful life) or Stopped (to resume it and to change the useful life). An asset In preparation, Closed, Disposed of or Scrapped does not have these operations.
• The example is the Impressora multifunções (AF/00007), of Empresa Demonstração, Lda: cost €2,400.00, 5 years, accounting instalment of €40.00 per month. The months from February to September 2026 are already processed (8 instalments, €320.00 depreciated, net book value €2,080.00).

How to use it

1. Open the form of the Impressora multifunções. The state is In use. Click Actions: the Bookkeeping group has Compute accounting board, Stop, Cancel processing, Impairment Test and Stop / change useful life.
2. Choose Stop / change useful life. The Stop / Resume / Change the useful life wizard opens, with the Asset, the Operation (Stop the depreciation, Resume the depreciation or Change the useful life) and the Reason. On an asset in use the operation is already set to Stop the depreciation.
3. Type the Reason (Impressora avariada, em reparação) and click Confirm. Without a reason the screen does not let you continue: “Some required fields are empty. Fill in the fields marked in red to be able to save.”
4. The state becomes Stopped. Resume appears in the header (in a narrow window, in the arrow next to the first button) and Stop is no longer there. The form's history gets two lines: “In use → Stopped (State)” and “Depreciation stopped. Reason: Impressora avariada, em reparação”.
5. To resume, open Actions › Stop / change useful life (on a stopped asset the operation is set to Change the useful life), change the Operation to Resume the depreciation, type the reason (Impressora reparada) and Confirm. The state goes back to In use and the history records “Depreciation resumed. Reason: Impressora reparada”. The Resume button in the header and Actions › Stop also change the state, but only that: they do not ask for a reason.
6. To change the useful life, open the wizard, choose Change the useful life and type the New Useful Life (years) (6) and the reason (Uso previsto mais longo, conferido pelo contabilista). The wizard shows the Current Useful Life (years) (5.00); the New Useful Life (years) opens at 0.00. Click Confirm.
7. The board is updated straight away. The history shows “5.00 → 6.00 (Accounting Useful Life (years))”, “Useful life changed from 5 to 6 years (applies to the periods not yet processed). Reason: …” and “Accounting board recalculated: 64 planned period(s), 8 processed kept.” The 8 instalments already posted stay as they were (€40.00) and the next 64 become €32.50 (€2,080.00 ÷ 64), until January 2032. The Depreciation plan tab shows each period.

Simulate before changing

The Simulate a change button, in the header, opens a window where you can type a New Accounting Life (years), a New Accounting Method and a New DR 25/2009 Rate. Click Simulate and the window compares, period by period, today's accounting and tax instalments with those that would result (Accounting now and Accounting if, Tax now and Tax if, and the differences). With 8 years instead of 6, the accounting instalment would go from €32.50 to €23.64 per month. Closing the window saves nothing: the asset's useful life stays at 6 years.

Expected result

• The asset changes from In use to Stopped and back, with the reason in the history. These operations do not create journal entries.
• Stopping does not cancel instalments. The depreciation periods remain planned. What changes is the monthly batch: in Close › Monthly depreciation (Process Depreciation list) the Asset State field is set to In use, so the batch does not include a stopped asset. When the batch is run with Stopped or In use and stopped, the asset is included and the batch posts all the overdue instalments up to that date (in the example, October and November: €65.00, two instalments of €32.50). See process the month's depreciation.
• Changing the useful life only changes the periods not yet processed. The tax board is not recalculated by this wizard: the DR 25/2009 rate still decides the maximum tax instalment (Tax board).
• Pending validation by a certified accountant: whether a stopped asset should keep depreciating (the product keeps the planned periods and leaves the decision to the batch), the treatment of the useful life change as a change in estimate (applied only to future periods, NCRF 4 of the SNC) and the tax effect of the change (DR 25/2009).

Important notes

• Two ways to stop. Actions › Stop and the Resume button only switch the state. The Stop / change useful life wizard asks for the reason and keeps it on record. Prefer the wizard.
• No need to recalculate by hand. The wizard already recalculates the board. Actions › Compute accounting board just repeats the same calculation.
• Batch state. A stopped asset is left out of the monthly batch. If you forget it stopped, its instalments are not posted and the period's result lacks that expense, until a batch is run with Stopped or In use and stopped.
• The simulation is not the wizard. Simulate a change only shows figures; Stop / change useful life saves.
• Before the closing, the asset closing alerts flag the stopped asset with instalments of the year not processed, so you can confirm whether the depreciation should really stay suspended.

Common problems

“Only a stopped asset can be resumed; "Impressora multifunções" is not stopped.”

• Cause: you chose Resume the depreciation on an asset In use (message Invalid Operation).
• What to do: close the message and the wizard. If you meant to stop it, choose Stop the depreciation.

“Only an asset in use can be stopped; "Impressora multifunções" is not.”

• Cause: you chose Stop the depreciation on an asset that is already Stopped.
• What to do: nothing: the asset is already stopped. To put it back to work, use Resume the depreciation.

“The new useful life is the same as the current one: there is nothing to change.”

• Cause: the New Useful Life (years) is the same as the Current Useful Life (years).
• What to do: type a different number of years, or close the wizard.

“The new useful life has to be greater than zero (it is in years, for example 8 or 12.5).”

• Cause: you left the New Useful Life (years) at 0.00, or typed a negative value.
• What to do: type the useful life in years, with decimals if needed (12.5).

“Some required fields are empty”

• Cause: the Reason is empty. It is mandatory in all three operations.
• What to do: type the reason and click Confirm.

I do not see the “Stop” or “Resume” buttons in the header

• Cause: Stop is not in the header: it is in Actions › Bookkeeping. Resume only appears on a Stopped asset. Neither appears for Management or the Auditor.
• What to do: open Actions and choose Stop or Stop / change useful life.