Other capital transfers (D.99)

4.164 . Definition:

Other capital transfers (D.99) cover transfers other than investment grants and capital taxes which do not themselves redistribute income but redistribute saving or wealth among the different sectors or sub-sectors of the economy or the rest of the world.

4.165 . Other capital transfers include the following transactions:

a) payments by general government or by the rest of the world to the owners of capital goods destroyed or damaged by acts of war, other political events or natural disasters (floods etc.);

b) transfers from general government to non-financial corporate and quasi-corporate enterprises to cover losses accumulated over several financial years or exceptional losses from causes beyond the control of the enterprise;

c) transfers between sub-sectors of general government designed to cover unexpected expenditure or accumulated deficits ;

d) non-recurrent bonus payments on savings granted by general government to households to reward them for their savings carried out over a period of several years;

e) legacies, large gifts inter vivos and donations between units belonging to different sectors, including legacies or large gifts to NPIs (for example, gifts to universities to cover the costs of building new residential colleges, libraries, laboratories, etc.);

f) the counterpart transaction of cancellation of debts by agreement between institutional units belonging to different sectors or sub-sectors (for example, the cancellation by the government of a debt owed to it by a foreign country; payments in fulfilment of guarantees which free defaulting debtors from their obligations) -except the particular case of taxes and social contributions payable to the general government sector (see 4.165 (j)). Such cancellations by mutual agreement are treated as a capital transfer from the creditor to the debtor equal to the value of the outstanding debt at the time of cancellation. Likewise the counterpart transaction of debt assumption is another capital transfer. However, excluded are:

(1) cancellation of financial claims against and assumption of liabilities from quasi-corporations by the owner of the quasi-corporation. This case is treated as a transaction in shares and other equity (see paragraph 5.16.);

(2) Debt cancellation against and debt assumption from a public corporation by government which disappears as an institutional unit in the system. This case is recorded in the other changes in the volume of assets account (see paragraphs 5.16., 6.29. and 6.30.);

(3) Debt cancellation against and debt assumption from a public corporation by government as a part of an ongoing process of privatisation to be achieved in a short term perspective. This case is treated as a transaction in shares and other equity (see paragraph 5.16.).

The writing-off of debt is not a transaction between institutional units and therefore does not appear in either the capital account or the financial account of the system. If the creditor decides such a write-off, it should be recorded in the other changes in the volume of assets accounts of the creditor and the debtor (see paragraph 6.27. d)). Provisions for bad debt are treated as book-keeping entries that are internal to the institutional producer unit and do not appear anywhere in the system. The unilateral repudiation of debt by a debtor is also not a transaction and is not recognised in the system.

g) that part of realised capital gains (or losses) which is redistributed to another sector, as, for example, capital gains redistributed by insurance companies to households. However, the counterpart transactions of transfers to general government of the proceeds of privatisation made indirectly (through a holding company for example) have to be recorded as financial transactions in shares and other equity (F.5) and have therefore no direct impact on the level of net lending/net borrowing of the general government;

h) major payments in compensation for extensive damage or serious injuries not covered by insurance policies (except payments by general government or by the rest of the world described in a)). The payments may be awarded by courts of law or settled out of court. They include payments of compensation for damage caused by major explosions, oil spillages, the side-effects of drugs, etc.;

i) extraordinary payments into social insurance funds made by employers (including government) of by government (as part of its social function), in so far as these payments are designed to increase the actuarial reserves of these funds. The accompanying adjustment from social insurance funds to households is also recorded as other capital transfers (D.99) (see Annex III 'Insurance' paragraph 20).

j)  When taxes and social contributions payable to the general government sector are recorded on the basis of assessments and declarations, the part unlikely to be collected has to be neutralised in the same accounting period. This can be done by an “Other capital transfer” (D.99), inside the specific line D.995, between general government and the relevant sectors. This D.995 flow has to be subdivided according to the coding of the different taxes and social contributions concerned.