> Sounds like black hat tax accounting. If it's still worth something after 3 years it would be an in-kind payment which will need to be taxed.
Not really black hat though: it's extremely common. In many countries there are specific rules as to how much you can deduce: say 33.33% yearly and after three years it's considered to have a residual value of zero or 20% yearly and after five years it's considered 0.
But then: if you play by the rule, by not deducing 100% in a year... After x years it is considered to be worth just that: zero.
So even though "it's still worth something", from an accounting point of view it can be worth zero (depending on the item).
So you can do whatever you want with it even if it's true value is not zero. You can burn it, stash it, give it away for free.
Basically: anything you do with it except specifically sell it is easier from an accounting point of view.
Things get a bit more complicated when you cannot deduce 100% over x years but only, say, 60% over x years. Then the company, logically, is supposed to sell the item (laptop, bicycle, car) for 40% of the residual value to the item.
For example a friend of mine had his company buy him a 10 K EUR bicycle (no kidding) and after x years (don't remember if it was 3 or 4), he bought the bicycle for himself for 2 K EUR.