A personal use asset is:
- a CGT asset, other than a collectable, that is used or kept mainly for the personal use or enjoyment of you or your associate(s)
- an option or a right to acquire a personal use asset
- a debt resulting from a CGT event involving a CGT asset kept mainly for your personal use and enjoyment, or
- a debt resulting from your doing something other than gaining or producing your assessable income or carrying on a business.
Personal use assets include such items as boats, furniture, electrical goods and household items. Land and buildings are not personal use assets. Any capital loss you make from a personal use asset is disregarded.
If a CGT event happened to a personal use asset during or after the 1998–99 income year, any capital gain you make is disregarded if you acquired the asset for $10,000 or less. If you dispose of a number of personal use assets individually that would usually be sold as a set, you get the exemption only if you acquired the set for $10,000 or less.
Other assets
Assets that are not collectables or personal use assets include:
- land
- shares in a company
- rights and options
- leases
- units in a unit trust
- goodwill
- licences
- convertible notes
- your home (see Exemptions)
- contractual rights
- foreign currency, and
- any major capital improvement made to certain land or pre-CGT assets.