ato logo
Search Suggestion:

If you receive both money and an asset

Last updated 30 August 2010

If you receive both money and an asset and choose to take a roll-over, the requirements and consequences are different for each part of the compensation.

Start of example

Example: Money and an asset received as compensation

The State Government compulsorily acquires land Kris bought in 2000. Its cost base at the time is $150,000 but Kris receives compensation worth $160,000.

Half of the total compensation is money ($80,000) and half is replacement land (market value $80,000). Therefore, the cost base of the original land attributable to each part of the compensation is $75,000 (50% × $150,000). Kris buys additional replacement land for $82,000.

The total capital gain is $10,000, which is capital proceeds of cash and property totalling $160,000 less the cost base of $150,000. Half of this capital gain can be attributed to the money and half to the asset (the replacement land).

The money Kris received as compensation is less than the amount he paid to buy the additional land. He can therefore disregard the $5,000 of the capital gain that is attributable to the money compensation. The expenditure on the additional land is reduced by $5,000, so the first element of its cost base is only $77,000.

As the market value of the replacement land is more than that part of the cost base of the original land, Kris can choose to take roll-over relief and disregard the capital gain of $5,000 relating to the land.

As a result, the value of the replacement land ($75,000) forms the first element of its cost base, not its market value ($80,000) when it was acquired.

End of example

Consequences of receiving both money and an asset

You need to separately determine what happens in relation to the replacement asset and the money, having regard to the proportion of the original asset attributable to each type of compensation.

The rules described above are then applied separately to the money and to the asset.

Indexation

If a CGT event happens to the replacement asset (for example, a later disposal), you may be able to use the indexation method or the discount method to calculate your capital gain. This applies only if the periods of ownership of the original asset and the replacement asset add up to at least 12 months. For indexation to apply, you must have acquired the asset before 21 September 1999.

QC16195