Indexed amounts

Many of the dollar amounts in bankruptcy law are indexed. This means they regularly change to keep up with the Consumer Price Index or the base pension rate.

This table shows the current amounts and which parts of the law they relate to. Full details of how and when they apply are in the Bankruptcy Act and Regulations.

Download indexed amounts:

On this page:

Indexed amounts in bankruptcy law—updated 27 October 2021

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Part IX debt agreement eligibility

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.

 $121,030.00 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.		 $242,060.00 s185C(4) (c) & (5)

Income: You can’t propose a debt agreement if your after-tax income for the year is over this limit.

 $90,772.50 s185C(4)(d) & (5)
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Protected property

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)
r29

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.

$8,150

 s116(2)(ca)
r30
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Credit limit

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.
 $6,065 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.

 $6,065 s149D(1)(c) and s304A(1)(g)
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Income contributions

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) $60,515.00 (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

 $60,515.00

1

 $71,407.70

2

 $76,854.05

3

 $79,879.80

4

 $81,090.10

more than 4

 $82,300.40
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Dependants

How much someone can earn and still be a dependant (used when calculating income contributions)

Updated each financial year

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. $3,782

s139K and r36
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Other amounts

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

$5,448

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

 $1,998

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.

$4,650

s109(1)(e)

r26
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Official Receiver allowances and advances

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.

$23

s77D(1)(a) and s304A(1)(a)

Advance payment for costs of travel by:
  • aircraft

$23

s77E(2) and s304A(1)(b)
  • private motor vehicle

$23

s77E(3) and s304A(1)(c)
  • another kind of transport

$11

s77E(4)(a) & (b) and s304A(1)(d) & (e)

Historical indexations

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