Commercial debt forgiveness

Situations that attract our attention include entities that have:

• had a debt forgiven (whether formally or informally)
• a commercial debt forgiven (see Division 245 of the ITAA 1997 – Forgiveness of a commercial debt), but the gain it represents for the debtor has not been recorded correctly in the tax return
• had a deemed forgiveness that takes place when a debt is assigned to a party related to the debtor
• entered into a debt for equity swap and failed to adjust their loss claims.

For more information on commercial debt forgiveness, see TD 2022/1 Income tax: commercial debt forgiveness – does the exclusion for debts forgiven for reasons of natural love and affection require that the creditor be a natural person?