The decline in value of certain depreciating assets costing $300 or less is their cost. This means you get an immediate deduction for the cost of the asset to the extent that you use it for a taxable purpose during the income year in which the deduction is available.

The immediate deduction is available if all of the following tests are met in relation to the asset:

• it cost $300 or less
• you used it mainly for the purpose of producing assessable income that was not income from carrying on a business (for example, rental income where your rental activities did not amount to the carrying on of a business)
• it was not part of a set of assets costing more than $300 that you started to hold in the income year, and
• it was not one of a number of identical, or substantially identical, assets that you started to hold in the income year that together cost more than $300.
• If you hold an asset jointly with others and the cost of your interest in the asset is $300 or less, you can claim the immediate deduction even though the depreciating asset in which you have an interest cost more than $300; see Partners carrying on a rental property business.