If you have claimed an immediate deduction for an asset using the instant asset write-off and then sell or dispose of that asset, you must include the taxable purpose portion of the amount you received for the asset in your assessable income for that year.

Sales of business assets such as office equipment and motor vehicles are usually taxable sales. GST also applies to business assets you trade in or otherwise dispose of by transferring ownership.

If you have claimed an immediate deduction for an asset using the instant asset write-off that is later destroyed (for example, in a bushfire or flood),  the taxable purpose portion of the amount you receive (such as from an insurance payout) for the destruction of the asset is included in your assessable income.

If you have sold or cease to use an asset that is in your small business pool, you must reduce your pool balance by the asset’s termination value, multiplied by the taxable purpose portion. If this causes your pool balance to become negative, the amount will be included in your assessable income. Otherwise it will reduce the amount of your future pool deduction.

The termination value could be money you received from selling an asset (including by way of trade-in) or the insurance payout you received as the result of its loss or destruction.

If you used the asset 100% for business, reduce the pool balance by the whole termination value.

If the asset had a portion of private use, reduce the pool balance using the following formula:

Termination value × Taxable purpose proportion

 You write off the whole small business pool balance in an income year if the value of the small business pool is less than the instant asset write-off:

• after you’ve adjusted for acquisitions, sales or disposals or changes in the taxable purpose of assets in the pool, and
• before calculating any depreciation deductions for the pool as a whole.