ATO Interpretative Decision

ATO ID 2003/287 (Withdrawn)

Income Tax

Commercial Debt Forgiveness - Time of incurring of debt under line of credit
FOI status: may be released
CAUTION: This is an edited and summarised record of a Tax Office decision. This record is not published as a form of advice. It is being made available for your inspection to meet FOI requirements, because it may be used by an officer in making another decision.

This ATOID provides you with the following level of protection:

If you reasonably apply this decision in good faith to your own circumstances (which are not materially different from those described in the decision), and the decision is later found to be incorrect you will not be liable to pay any penalty or interest. However, you will be required to pay any underpaid tax (or repay any over-claimed credit, grant or benefit), provided the time limits under the law allow it. If you do intend to apply this decision to your own circumstances, you will need to ensure that the relevant provisions referred to in the decision have not been amended or repealed. You may wish to obtain further advice from the Tax Office or from a professional adviser.

Issue

Where a commercial debt results from a further drawing on an established line of credit that has previously been fully repaid, is the debt incurred when the debtor first drew on the line of credit for the purposes of Schedule 2C to the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (ITAA 1936)?

Decision

No. Subsection 245-260(2) of Schedule 2C to the ITAA 1936 provides that the debt is taken to have been incurred when the debtor first drew on the line of credit after it was fully repaid.

Facts

A debtor made a further drawing from an established line of credit that had previously been fully repaid.

The debt was a commercial debt for the purposes of section 245-25 of Schedule 2C to the ITAA 1936.

After 27 June 1996 the debt was forgiven.

Reasons for Decision

Section 245-10 of Schedule 2C to the ITAA 1936 provides that Schedule 2C applies where a forgiveness of a commercial debt occurs after 27 June 1996.

In determining the gross forgiven amount of a debt under section 245-75 of Schedule 2C to the ITAA 1936 it is necessary to determine the notional value of the debt.

Section 245-55 of Schedule 2C to the ITAA 1936 calculates the notional value of a debt having regard to the date upon which it was incurred.

Where a debt results from a further drawing on an established line of credit and a previous drawing has not been fully repaid, subsection 245-260(1) of Schedule 2C to the ITAA 1936 provides that the debt is taken to be incurred for the purposes of applying Schedule 2C, at the time of the first drawing on the line of credit.

Subsection 245-260(1) of Schedule 2C to the ITAA 1936 is modified where the line of credit has previously been fully repaid. In such a situation subsection 245-260(2) of Schedule 2C to the ITAA 1936 provides that the debt is taken to be incurred for the purposes of applying Schedule 2C, at the time of the first drawing after the line of credit was fully repaid.

Date of decision:  11 April 2003

Year of income:  Year ended 30 June 2003

Legislative References:
Income Tax Assessment Act 1936
   Schedule 2C
   Schedule 2C, section 245-10
   Schedule 2C, section 245-25
   Schedule 2C, section 245-55
   Schedule 2C, section 245-75
   Schedule 2C, subsection 245-260(1)
   Schedule 2C, subsection 245-260(2)

Keywords
Debt forgiveness
Debt waivers

Business Line:  Losses and CGT Centre of Expertise

Date of publication:  16 May 2003

ISSN: 1445-2782

history
  Date: Version:
  11 April 2003 Original statement
You are here 21 November 2008 Archived

Copyright notice

© Australian Taxation Office for the Commonwealth of Australia

You are free to copy, adapt, modify, transmit and distribute material on this website as you wish (but not in any way that suggests the ATO or the Commonwealth endorses you or any of your services or products).