Income tax: is a hearse a unit of property for the purposes of section 57AF of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (the Act) and therefore subject to the limit on cost price for depreciation?

No. A hearse is not a motor vehicle of a kind described in paragraph 57AF(1)(b) and therefore is not subject to the limit on cost price for depreciation.

The Macquarie Dictionary defines a hearse as 'a funeral vehicle for conveying a dead person to the place of burial'.

Section 57AF applies to a unit of property (other than an excluded unit of property) being: (a) a unit of property in respect of which depreciation is allowable under this Act; and (b) a motor vehicle (including a vehicle known as a four wheel drive vehicle) that is a motor car or station wagon.

Within ordinary parlance and having regard to the purpose of section 57AF, we consider that a hearse is not a unit of property that comes within the relevant description of motor vehicle. Therefore the cost price limit in section 57AF does not apply.