Maximum debts, assets and income
|
Updated 20 March and 20 September
|
Limit, threshold or payment
|
Amount
|
Bankruptcy Act & Regulations
|
Debts: You can’t propose a debt agreement if your unsecured debts add up to more than this limit.
|
$118,063.40
|
s185C(4)(b) & (5) |
Property: You can’t propose a debt agreement if your divisible property adds up to more than this limit.
Divisible property is property that could be sold by your trustee if you were bankrupt. |
$236,126.80
|
s185C(4) (c) & (5) |
Income: You can’t propose a debt agreement if your after-tax income for the year is over this limit.
|
$88,547.55
|
s185C(4)(d) & (5) |
Protected property — assets a bankrupt person can keep
|
Updated each financial year
|
Limit, threshold or payment
|
Amount
|
Bankruptcy Act & Regulations
|
Tools: Up to this total value, you can keep property used to earn income by physical exertion (tools of trade). |
$3,800
|
s116(2)(c)(i) R6.03B (1) & (2) |
Vehicles: You can keep cars or motorbikes you use mainly for transport worth up to this amount.
If you haven’t paid off the vehicle, the amount that counts towards the limit is its value minus what you still owe.
|
$8,100
(revised from $8,000 Sept 2020)
|
s116(2)(ca) R6.03B (3) & (4) |
Amount of credit etc. you can get without telling the lender about your bankruptcy or debt agreement.
|
Updated quarterly
|
Limit, threshold or payment
|
Amount
|
Bankruptcy Act & Regulations
|
Above this limit, you must disclose that you’re bankrupt or in a debt agreement before you can:
- buy goods or services on credit, by hire purchase or by cheque
- lease, hire or promise to pay for goods or services
- promise to supply goods or services in return for payment.
|
$5,934
|
s269(1)(a), (aa), (ab), (ac), (ad) s304A(1)(j) |
Warning
It is a criminal offence if you are bankrupt or subject to a debt agreement to obtain or attempt to obtain credit in certain circumstances. Severe penalties apply to these offences.
|
The trustee can lodge an objection if you are bankrupt and engage in misleading conduct relating to amounts that are, or add up to, more than the limit.
|
$5,934 |
s149D(1)(c) and s304A(1)(g) |
Income contributions from the bankrupt person
|
Updated 20 March and 20 September
|
Limit, threshold or payment
|
Amount
|
Bankruptcy Act & Regulations
|
Base Income Threshold Amount (BITA) |
$59,031.70 (after tax)
|
s139K
|
Actual Income Threshold Amount (AITA)
Over this amount, half of any income you get goes towards repaying creditors. The applicable threshold depends on how many dependants you have.
|
(all amounts after tax) |
s139K
|
Number of dependants
|
Income |
0
|
$59,031.70
|
1
|
$69,657.41
|
2
|
$74,970.26
|
3
|
$77,921.84
|
4
|
$79,102.48
|
more than 4
|
$80,283.11
|
How much someone can earn and still be a dependant (used when calculating income contributions)
|
Updated quarterly
|
Limit, threshold or payment
|
Amount
|
Bankruptcy Act & Regulations
|
A person who resides with you and who depends on you for economic support can earn income up to this limit during the income contribution assessment period and still count as your dependant. |
$3,741
|
s139K and R6.15A
|
Trustee remuneration – the amount a registered trustee can take from an estate (includes a bankruptcy; a personal insolvency agreement; or a controlling trustee authority) unless creditors, a committee of inspection or the Inspector-General in Bankruptcy set a different amount
|
|
Limit, threshold or payment
|
Amount (exclusive of GST)
|
Bankruptcy Act & Regulations
|
Where the trustee is appointed in the current financial year, regardless of when the estate began
|
$5,388
|
s60-15 of Schedule 2
|
Limit updated each financial year – for trustee appointments in prior financial years (from 2017–18) see the historical indexations
|
Where the trustee was appointed before 1 September 2017, and the estate began on or after 1 December 2010
|
$5,000
|
s161B as it was from 1 December 2010 to 31 August 2017
|
This amount is not indexed
|
Where the trustee was appointed before 1 September 2017, and the estate began before 1 December 2010
|
$1,954
|
s161B as it was before 1 December 2010
|
Limit updated quarterly
|
Limit on priority payments to employees
|
Updated each financial year
|
Up to this limit, the bankrupt’s employees who are entitled to claim in the estate are the first unsecured creditors to get payments from the estate.
|
$4,600
(revised from $4,550 Sept 2020)
|
s109(1)(e)
R6.02
|
Allowance for attending the Official Receiver to give evidence about someone else’s bankruptcy
|
Updated quarterly
|
Limit, threshold or payment
|
Amount
|
Bankruptcy Act & Regulations
|
Attending the Official Receiver to give evidence or information.
|
$22
|
s77D(1)(a) and s304A(1)(a)
|
Advance payment for costs of travel by:
|
|
$22
|
s77E(2) and s304A(1)(b)
|
|
$22
|
s77E(3) and s304A(1)(c)
|
- another kind of transport
|
$11
|
s77E(4)(a) & (b) and s304A(1)(d) & (e)
|