Government Approves Writeoffs for 2025-26

The Province is writing off $10.3 million in uncollectable debts, largely unpaid loans, fees and fines from previous years.

“This is a standard accounting practice that we do every year,” said Finance and Treasury Board Minister John Lohr. “We will continue to work to collect these debts, even though they are being removed from our books.”

The debts are from past fiscal years up to March 31, 2025. They are being written off after multiple efforts at collection and a review to suggest they are unlikely to be repaid.

Quick Facts:

• uncollectable debts have been largely trending downward over the last several years; they reached a high of $65.5 million in 2019-20 and were at $6.7 million last year
• this accounting process follows Nova Scotia’s Finance Act
• writeoffs of uncollectable accounts do not impact the budget or the Province’s bottom line

Additional Resources:

A summary of writeoffs by department is available at: https://www.novascotia.ca/documents/summary-departmental-write-offs-2025-2026