For small business, the increase of instant asset write-off threshold from $1,000 to $6,500 for the 2012-13 income year will affect the method of depreciating or writing off the costs of assets, including motor vehicles.
What was once allocated to the long life small business pool, can now be grouped into the general small business pool, with 30% depreciation rate applied to the new opening balance of the year 2012-13. If a new asset is acquired during this year, it is depreciated at 15% then a flat 30% for subsequent years without having to worry about its effective life.
These amendments only apply to small businesses that have less than $2 million aggregated turnover, of which it includes the annual turnover of the small business and the annual turnovers of any connected or affiliated businesses.
You can write off or start depreciating any new addition of asset at the end of the income year when your business either:
- Starts to use it for business purposes; or
- Had installed it and it is ready for use for business purposes.
You can now also claim an accelerated deduction for motor vehicles costing $6,500 or more under the same provisions. The cost of the motor vehicle is added to the general pool but with a slightly different way of depreciation treatment. You can write off $5,000 in the income year that you purchase it, then depreciate an additional 15% of the remaining amount.
For example, if you purchased a vehicle used solely for business purposes, costing $12,000 in the 2012-13 income year you can claim the following:
$5000 + 15% (12,000 – 5,000) = $6,050
If the motor vehicle costs less than $6,500 it can be written off immediately.