A guide to equipment in Horizon Europe

A guide to equipment in Horizon Europe

If your project needs new equipment, that is specific supplies and/or tools, you have different options to consider. The European Commission (EC) allows you to choose between buying, leasing or renting. Read on to learn the rules and make the best decision for your project.

Buying new equipment

If you decide to purchase new equipment for the project you can normally declare depreciation costs only, not the full purchase amount from the invoice. This also applies if you use your existing equipment.

What is depreciation?

Depreciation is defined as the reduction of costs of a fixed asset over a period of time until the value of the asset becomes zero. The number of months over which equipment depreciates is determined by its useful life.

Therefore, if an equipment’s useful life is longer than a year, you cannot charge the total cost of the item in a single year.

Any depreciation declared under the project must be reflected in the accounting records according to the company’s accounting policy and standard practices. Depreciated equipment costs cannot exceed the equipment’s purchase price.

What if the equipment is used only partly for the project?

If a piece of equipment is not used exclusively for the EU project, depreciation can only be claimed in the amount of the respective usage share. The share of use must be documented and verifiable by means of a so-called ‘equipment/machine logbook’ to prove the actual percentage of the HE project share.

Can I declare equipment that was bought before project start?

Equipment already owned by the company before the start of the project, which has not yet been fully depreciated or financed from other funds, can be used in your project and continue to depreciate.

How to properly calculate equipment (depreciation) costs?

To calculate depreciation within HE you need to know: the period in months during which the equipment is used for the project, the depreciation period (useful life) of the equipment, the full equipment cost according to the invoice and finally the percentage of usage of the equipment for the project. The depreciation costs must be calculated for each reporting period.

Renting or leasing

If you decide to rent or lease equipment it must comply with the following eligibility conditions:

• the cost cannot exceed the depreciation costs of similar equipment,
• it cannot include any financing fees (interest on loans taken to finance the purchase or finance charges)

Please note that if you decide to buy, rent or lease equipment, the ‘best value for money’ principle must be respected with no conflicts of interest. It is advisable to contact potential suppliers and request several offers before making a final choice.

Full cost of equipment

If provided in the Grant Agreement, beneficiaries can charge the full capitalized costs for the listed equipment. For more details check our article on How to claim the full cost of equipment in Horizon Europe.

Labelling equipment

The equipment charged to the project – whether fully or partially dedicated to the project – must be labelled with a special sticker with the EU emblem and the official promotion sentence, as per the Grant Agreement.

Would you like to know more about how to properly charge equipment costs to the project? Do you need help preparing documentation to justify equipment costs? Contact hello@getpolite.eu for guidance and support.