KEY TAKEAWAYS
- A free asset disposal form template: a two-page form (PDF and Word) and an Excel log for batches, with a filled example.
- IT fills it in; the requester, IT or security and finance sign once the certificate, custody proof and sale paperwork are attached.
- Fill it in the order the device moves: get it back, release it, erase and verify it, then sign and hand it over.
- Laptops and phones need four fields generic forms lack: device management release, wipe method and verification, the certificate reference and the chain of custody.
- In the books, remove cost and accumulated depreciation, record the net proceeds, and book the difference as a gain or loss (IAS 16).
A laptop back from a leaver stays a risk until this free asset disposal form template proves its data is gone and it has left the books. The forms that rank today, from universities, public bodies and form builders, stop at the method and the signature. This one adds the IT steps, a filled example and a worked register entry.
Free Asset Disposal Form Template
Download the asset disposal form template (PDF, A4)
Download the asset disposal form template (PDF, US Letter)
Download the editable form (Word, .docx)
Download the disposal log for batches (Excel)
Download the filled example (PDF, A4)
What Is an Asset Disposal Form?
An asset disposal form, also called an equipment disposal form, is the signed record that a company asset has left the business, and how. It sits under your disposal policy, which says who may approve and which methods are allowed.
IT fills it in, since it handles the device, release and wipe. The requester, IT or security, and finance approve it, and the signed form is filed with the fixed asset records. For IT hardware it is the paperwork side of IT asset disposition, at the last stage of the device lifecycle.
What's Included in This Asset Disposal Form Template
Two pages, nine sections. The PDFs are print-only; fill the Word file on screen. The Excel log holds one row per device for batch disposals.
| Section | Fields | Why it is there |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Asset Details | Asset ID or tag; Device type; Make and model; Serial number; Purchase date; Last assigned to (name and employee ID); Country where the device is now; Location type; Condition; Accessories included | The serial stops the wrong laptop being wiped or sold, and Condition decides whether it is sold or recycled. |
| 2. Reason for Disposal | Reason; Redeployment considered; Legal hold check | Records why the device leaves, that redeployment was considered, and that no legal hold applies. |
| 3. Disposal Method | Disposal method; Recipient (buyer, charity, recycler or destruction provider); Recipient's certificate reference (recycling or destruction), if issued; Planned handover date | Pick by condition and data risk: sell or donate working devices, recycle broken ones, destroy sensitive ones. |
| 4. Device Management Release | Remote lock or wipe sent from the MDM; Activation Lock turned off (Apple devices), done before the release; Released from Apple Business, formerly Apple Business Manager (Apple); Deleted from Intune, then deregistered from Windows Autopilot (Windows); Not enrolled in either; Device record removed from the MDM | Frees the device from Apple Business, Intune and Autopilot before the wipe, so the next owner can set it up. |
| 5. Data Sanitization | Storage type; Sanitization method; Technique, for example cryptographic erase, overwrite or shred; Tool and version; Verification method; Performed by (name, role); Verified by (name, role, contact); Certificate of sanitization or destruction reference | Records the wipe with the fields NIST SP 800-88 Rev. 2 lists for a certificate of sanitization. |
| 6. Chain of Custody | Handover no.; From (name, role); To (name, organisation); Date; Place; Courier tracking no.; Signature | Without a signed row per handover, nobody can show where the device was before the recipient. |
| 7. Financials | Original cost; Accumulated depreciation to the disposal date; Net book value (cost minus accumulated depreciation); Disposal proceeds; Costs of disposal (fees, transport); Net proceeds (proceeds minus costs of disposal); Gain or loss (proceeds minus costs of disposal minus net book value); Removed from the fixed asset register on | Works out net book value and gain or loss, so Finance can remove the asset from the register. |
| 8. Approvals | Requested by; IT or security approval; Finance approval, each with name, role, date and signature | IT or security checks the wipe certificate; Finance checks net book value and the gain or loss. |
| 9. Attachments | Certificate of sanitization or destruction; Chain of custody record or courier proof of delivery; Sale invoice, buyback quote or donation receipt; Recycler's certificate, if issued; Police or loss report (lost or stolen only); Photo of the device's condition; Notes | Without these documents the form is only a claim; each signer checks them before signing. |
Section 1: Asset Details
Record the country where the device is now, because that decides who can collect it.
Section 2: Reason for Disposal
Many laptops leave at the end of a hardware refresh cycle.
Section 3: Disposal Method
A sale through a device buyback service needs an invoice; every other route needs a receipt or certificate.
Section 7: Financials
Section 7 makes this a fixed asset disposal form. Fill it once the sale invoice arrives, so the gain or loss uses the real proceeds.
Sections 8 and 9: Approvals and Attachments
Attach the Section 9 documents before you ask anyone to sign.
How to Fill Out an Asset Disposal Form in 5 Steps
The filled example below is a laptop returned from a leaver's home and sold.
Identify the Device and the Reason
Open a form when a device is marked for retirement, often as the last line of a leaver's IT offboarding checklist. Take the asset ID and serial from the register and run the legal hold check before anyone touches the data.
Get the Device Back and Open the Custody Record
In Capterra's 2022 survey of 287 HR employees, 71% of those who had offboarded staff in the past year said at least one leaver did not return equipment. Of those who reported equipment theft by exiting employees, 59% said it held sensitive company data; Capterra does not say how large that group was. One IT buyer described where that ends: "We just write off devices when someone leaves abroad".
When the device arrives, check its serial against Section 1. If the leaver stops answering, follow the steps for recovering equipment from a leaver. For devices in employees' homes, the first row of Section 6 is the handover to the courier.
Release It From Device Management
Turn off Activation Lock, then release the Mac or iPhone from Apple Business; on Windows, delete it from Intune, then deregister it from Autopilot. A lost or stolen device skips the release: send a remote lock or wipe from your MDM and write down the date.
Erase, Verify and File the Certificate
The laptop usually travels from the leaver's home with its data on it, still enrolled in your MDM so it can be locked if lost, with a signed custody row per handover. Erase it before a buyer, charity or recycler takes it. Check the tool's completion report, then write the certificate number in Section 5.
Approve, Hand Over and Close the Record
Collect the signatures, fill the last custody row and complete Section 7. Set the device to Retired in your register or hardware asset management software. File the form and attachments with your fixed asset records for as long as your records policy requires.
Pro tip: do not let anyone sign Section 8 until three attachments are in place: the wipe or destruction certificate, the custody proof for every handover so far, and the sale invoice or donation receipt. An approval given before the wipe approves a promise.
IT-Specific Fields Most Disposal Forms Miss
In 2022 Morgan Stanley Smith Barney agreed to pay a $35 million SEC penalty after it hired a moving and storage company "with no experience or expertise in data destruction services" to decommission devices. Some, holding customer data, were resold on an internet auction site. The four fields below record the wipe, its proof and the custody that case lacked.
Device Management Release
Skip the release and a laptop you sold stays in your Apple Business account, where it can still be assigned to your device management service. Apple's guide to releasing devices says you must release any device you no longer own or control. Turn off Activation Lock first, because Apple Business cannot manage it afterwards, then erase: a released device "needs to be erased and restored". Never release a device going to Apple for repair.
On Windows, Microsoft's Autopilot documentation says a device that permanently leaves "should always be deregistered", after it is deleted from Intune. You are undoing the registration that made zero-touch deployment work on day one.
Data Sanitization Method and Verification
NIST SP 800-88 Rev. 2 gives three methods, and Section 5 has a box for each. Clear stops simple recovery through the device's normal interface. Purge stops recovery even in a lab and can leave the device reusable; NIST prefers it, so it suits a laptop you will sell. Destroy leaves nothing usable. Verification checks "the outcome of the sanitization technique".
The Certificate Reference Field
NIST says a certificate of sanitization should be completed for each sanitized storage device, from serial number and method to tool version and verifier. Sections 1 and 5 ask for those details. A reference number beats a "wiped: yes" box, because anyone can find the certificate behind it. An r/sysadmin user who had a couple of hundred drives shredded said watching it "plus a spreadsheet of serial numbers satisfied the auditors."
Chain of Custody
The SEC also found the firm "failed to properly monitor the moving company's work." Section 6 is that monitoring, written down. NIST's glossary defines chain of custody for evidence as documenting "each person who handled the evidence", when and why. NIST's sanitization guide adds that records should run from the place a device "was last used" to its final destination.
How to Record Asset Disposal in Your Books
Net book value (IAS 16's carrying amount) is cost minus depreciation charged so far. Under IAS 16, paragraph 71, the gain or loss is "the difference between the net disposal proceeds, if any, and the carrying amount of the item." Paragraph 68 sends it to profit or loss: "Gains shall not be classified as revenue."
The filled example: a laptop bought for 2,160 CAD on 2024-04-02, disposed of 30 months later.
| Outcome | Cost | Accumulated depreciation | Net book value | Proceeds | Costs of disposal | Net proceeds | Gain or loss |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sold | 2,160 | 1,800 | 360 | 540 | 40 | 500 | Gain of 140 |
| Recycled | 2,160 | 1,800 | 360 | 0 | 30 | minus 30 | Loss of 390 |
Example policy: straight-line over 36 months, no residual value, so 60 CAD a month. The figures are fictional.
The register entry for the sale:
- Remove the laptop's cost: 2,160 CAD.
- Remove its accumulated depreciation: 1,800 CAD.
- Record the net proceeds received: 500 CAD.
- Record the gain on disposal: 140 CAD (500 minus the 360 net book value).
In the US, IRS Publication 544 covers the tax side of selling or otherwise disposing of business property. This is general information, not accounting or tax advice. Ask your accountant how disposals are treated where your company files.
Free templates for the rest of the device's life
- To track each device: the IT inventory template (Excel), or the IT asset inventory Excel template (Excel), which adds a returns tab for leavers.
- When someone gives notice: the employee offboarding checklist (PDF or Word), 30 steps with an owner and a deadline each.
- After the last working day: the return of company property letter (Word), six letters that ask for the devices back.
- At month end: the fixed asset register template (Excel), with cost, depreciation and book value for each device.
- For the whole process: the IT asset management checklist (PDF), 40 tasks from purchase to disposal.
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CONCLUSION
Dispose of IT Devices in Any Country With Tequipy
While Tequipy's co-founder ran IT at Revolut (100 to 5,000 people, 2 to 17 offices), about 300 people rotated weekly and no laptop was lost. Tequipy runs collection and disposal that way for globally distributed teams.
- Collection with a custody trail. Tequipy's laptop retrieval service collects from leavers in 180+ countries for $70 to $150 a device, basic wipe included. Each handover carries a signature, from the sender and from the receiving centre, and the courier holds a certification. Handling takes 5 to 10 business days after collection, and 7 to 21 days from request to completion (up to 30 if the leaver is slow).
- Data options matched to the method. Resale gets a Blancco certified wipe and certificate, regulated destruction a Certificate of Destruction, an investigation a legal hold.
- Paperwork stored per device. Certificates you order sit on each device's record in the device lifecycle management platform, including laptops bought elsewhere.
Tequipy's platform fee is a flat $99 a month, whether a company tracks 120 devices or 3,000. Below 100 devices, the platform costs nothing. The HR sync is an optional $199 a month. All service rates are on the pricing page.
Download the form and fill one in for the next laptop you retire. If it is still at a leaver's home abroad, ask Tequipy for a collection quote for that country.
FAQ
What Is the Format of an Asset Disposal Form?
Either paper or digital. NIST says a sanitization record may be "physical (e.g., piece of paper) or electronic". What matters is one record per device, with signatures and attachments.
What Is an Example of Asset Disposal?
A lost phone written off. The form records Lost or stolen as the reason, Write off as the method, the date a remote wipe was sent, and the police report.
How to Calculate Disposal of an Asset?
Subtract net book value from net proceeds. A fully depreciated laptop has a net book value of zero, so any net proceeds are gain, and a destruction fee alone is the loss.
What Is the Procedure for Disposing of an Asset?
Policy first. Agree who may approve, which disposal methods are allowed and how long forms are kept. Then every disposal follows the same five steps, with one form per device.
Can You Sell a Company Laptop in a Country Where You No Longer Hire?
Yes. When you offboard in a country where you will not hire again, Tequipy offers sellback and pays cash: 20 to 70% of the initial device value, by age and condition.
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AUTHOR
Before Tequipy, Tomek ran IT at Revolut, scaling from 100 employees in 2 offices to 5,000 across 17. He built the system that kept every laptop accounted for, then founded Tequipy – a platform that handles IT equipment logistics for distributed teams across 180+ countries.
As CEO, he runs operations and covers the founder layer: strategy, product, and the company-building that comes with both.
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