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.

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Indexed amounts

The tables below show 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:

Indexed amounts in bankruptcy law—updated 20 September 2024

Part IX debt agreement eligibility

Maximum debts, assets and income.

Amounts 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. $143,652.60 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.

$287,305.20 s185C(4) (c) & (5)
Income: You can’t propose a debt agreement if your after-tax income for the year is over this limit. $107,739.45 s185C(4)(d) & (5)

 

Protected property

Protected property — assets a bankrupt person can keep.

Amounts 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). $4,350 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.

$9,400 s116(2)(ca)
r30

 

Credit limit

Amount of credit etc. you can get without telling the lender about your bankruptcy or debt agreement.

Amounts 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.
$7,032 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. $7,032 s149D(1)(c) and s304A(1)(g)

 

Income contributions

Income contributions from the bankrupt person.

Amounts updated 20 March and 20 September.

Limit, threshold or payment Amount Bankruptcy Act & Regulations
Base Income Threshold Amount (BITA) $71,826.30 (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  s139K
0 $71,826.30 s139K
1 $84,755.03 s139K
2 $91,219.40 s139K
3 $94,810.72 s139K
4 $96,247.24 s139K
more than 4 $97,683.77 s139K

 

Dependants

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

Amounts 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. $4,406 s139K and r36

 

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

Limit updated each financial year – for trustee appointments in prior financial years (from 2017–18) see the historical indexations
$6,349 s60-15 of Schedule 2
Where the trustee was appointed before 1 September 2017, and the estate began on or after 1 December 2010

This amount is not indexed
$5,000 s161B as it was from 1 December 2010 to 31 August 2017

Where the trustee was appointed before 1 September 2017, and the estate began before 1 December 2010

Limit updated quarterly

$2,316 s161B as it was before 1 December 2010

 

Limit on priority payments to employees

Amounts updated each financial year.

Limit, threshold or payment Amount Bankruptcy Act & Regulations
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. $5,300 s109(1)(e)
r26

 

Official Receiver allowances and advances

Allowance for attending the Official Receiver to give evidence about someone else’s bankruptcy.

Amounts updated quarterly.

Limit, threshold or payment Amount Bankruptcy Act & Regulations
Attending the Official Receiver to give evidence or information. $26 s77D(1)(a) and s304A(1)(a)
Advance payment for costs of travel by:    
  • aircraft
$26 s77E(2) and s304A(1)(b)
  • private motor vehicle
$26 s77E(3) and s304A(1)(c)
  • another kind of transport
$13 s77E(4)(a) & (b) and s304A(1)(d) & (e)