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Commercial debt forgiveness

Last updated 30 October 2005

Generally, an amount which you owe is a commercial debt if you can claim a deduction for the interest paid on the debt or you would have been able to claim a deduction for interest if it had been charged. The amount of the commercial debt includes any accrued but unpaid interest.

If a commercial debt is forgiven, you may be required to reduce expenditure deductible under the UCA by all or part of the net forgiven amount. If the reduction of deductible expenditure is made for a depreciating asset, the asset's cost is reduced. If the reduction is made in a year later than the one in which the asset's start time occurs, the opening adjustable value of the asset is also reduced.

If an asset's opening adjustable value is reduced and you use the prime cost method to work out the asset's decline in value, you need to use the adjusted prime cost formula for the income year the change is made and in later years - see Methods of working out decline in value.

QC27521