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Uniform capital allowances

About uniform capital allowances and steps to follow to work out your deduction.

Last updated 9 August 2023

About uniform capital allowances and steps to follow to work out your deduction.

Uniform capital allowances rules

Uniform capital allowances (UCA) provide a set of general rules that apply across a variety of depreciating assets and certain other capital expenditure. UCA do this by consolidating a range of former capital allowance regimes. UCA replace provisions relating to:

  • plant
  • software
  • mining and quarrying
  • intellectual property
  • forestry roads and timber mill buildings
  • spectrum licences.

You use these rules to work out deductions for the cost of your depreciating assets, including those acquired before 1 July 2001. You can generally deduct an amount for the decline in value of a depreciating asset you held to the extent that you used it for a taxable purpose.

However, an eligible small business entity may choose to work out deductions for their depreciating assets using the simplified depreciation rules; see Small business entity concessions.

Steps to work out your deduction

Under UCA, there are a number of steps to work out your deduction for the decline in value of a depreciating asset.

Some of these steps do not apply:

  • if you choose to allocate an asset to a pool
  • if you can claim an immediate deduction for the asset
  • to certain primary production assets
  • to some assets used in rural businesses.

See Working out decline in value.

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