CRA treats custom website development as a depreciable asset, not an immediate expense. You claim it under Class 12 at 100% declining balance (meaning 50% in year one due to the half-year rule) or sometimes Class 50 at 55% if it qualifies as general-purpose electronic data processing equipment. Most accountants default to Class 12, so you'd deduct roughly half the cost in year one, half of the remainder in year two, and so on until fully depreciated or the site is replaced. In practice, a three-year amortization window aligns with how long most business websites stay relevant before needing a significant refresh. A 15k site built in 2024 is often outdated by 2027 due to design trends, CMS updates, or shifting user expectations. Writing it off over three years matches that economic reality better than stretching to five, even though CRA permits the longer schedule. Smaller updates and content changes are usually expensed immediately as maintenance or marketing costs. The line blurs when you rebuild half the site or migrate platforms. If you're replacing substantial functionality or structure, treat it as a new capital asset. If you're tweaking templates and adding pages, expense it in the year incurred. At Ottawa SEO, we see clients overthink this. The tax treatment rarely changes whether you pick two or four years within CRA's range, because the declining balance method front-loads deductions anyway. What matters more is matching your accounting to actual site longevity. If you plan a refresh every two years, amortize over two. If you expect five years from an enterprise build, use five. The business logic should drive the schedule, not arbitrary tax optimization. One trap: hosting, domain renewals, and SaaS subscriptions like Shopify are operating expenses, not capital. Only custom development, design work, and one-time platform licenses get capitalized. Keep invoices separated so your bookkeeper doesn't accidentally amortize your monthly hosting bill or immediately expense a 40k custom build.