Wendy is evaluating a capital budgeting project that should last for 4 years. The project requires $ 800,000 of equipment. She is unsure what depreciation method to use in her analysis, straight-line or the 3-year MACRS accelerated method. Under straight-line depreciation, the cost of the equipment would be depreciated evenly over its 4-year life (ignore the half-year convention for the straight-line method). The applicable MACRS depreciation rates are 33%, 45%, 15%, and 7%, as discussed in Appendix 11A of our text book. The company's WACC is 10%, and its tax rate is 40%.
a. What would the depreciation expense be under each year under each method? (I have already answered this part of the question)
b. Which depreciation method would produce the higher NPV, and how much higher would it be?