"There was a one-off write-off of impaired credit card balances by one of the banking groups, " said a spokesman for the British Bankers' Association.

BBC: Credit card bad debt write-offs double

The law was written for two private corporations so that a tax -- so that a corporate raider -- and this happened in the '80s -- would buy one unprofitable corporation, use their tax loss write-off to benefit the profits they were making another corporation.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing

In order to secure the 10bn euros, agreed by the EU and IMF, Cyprus was forced to wind up one major bank and write-off of a large portion of secured debt and uninsured deposits in the largest bank, Bank of Cyprus.

BBC: Cyprus to ease citizenship rules for EU bailout losers

The depreciation write-off is one of the main reasons to own real estate.

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Though it might be tempting to write off this young group as one-dimensional, it is worth noting that they also include on their album songs like "In the Name of Jesus Christ" and "Someone Like Daniel" that grapple with religion.

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And he took time off from reviewing films to write one - 1970's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.

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Though Danny Alexander has just entered the BBC studio, as I write this, and told me there are one-off asset sales like this every year.

BBC: The Bank, the OBR and Mr Osborne

And that means that business owners like Bob who decide to upgrade their plants, upgrade their equipment -- that means that they are able to write off immediately that depreciation in one year.

WHITEHOUSE: Helping Businesses Grow and Hire New Employees