A married couple's interest in their retirement account was not considered an asset for purposes of the cancellation-of-debt (COD) insolvency test, and thus the taxpayers could exclude a portion of the income from the debt forgiveness. According to the court, the retirement account could not be used to immediately pay any income tax due to the discharged debt and therefore was not an asset for purposes of the test. This article provides insight on why the couple's interest in their retirement plan was not considered an asset for purposes of the COD insolvency test.