Self-education expenses are generally tax-deductible for individuals if there’s a sufficient connection with your income-producing activities. However, until new legislation was recently passed, the amount you could deduct was limited by s 82A of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 so that only the amount spent over a $250 threshold was deductible.
This threshold was an artefact from when the self education deduction measure was first introduced more than 40 years ago, alongside a long-repealed concessional tax rebate of $250. The original intention of the deduction limit was to ensure that taxpayers didn’t receive both the tax rebate and a tax deduction for the same set of expenses.
With the non-deductible threshold removed, you will only need to ensure the following applies when you claim a self education deduction:
- you incurred the expense in gaining or producing your assessable income;
- the expense isn’t private, domestic or capital in nature; and
- the deduction isn’t prevented by another provision of the tax law (eg such as some childcare and travel expenses that would previously have been useable to reduce the $250 threshold).
The change applies for tax assessments for the 2022–2023 income year and onwards.
TIP: This change doesn’t affect the types of self education expenses that are deductible. The costs of textbooks, stationery and professional journals will still be deductible, while certain student contributions and payments to reduce HELP, financial supplement and other higher education debts stay non-deductible, as do expenses you incur before commencing an occupation or to help you obtain a new occupation.
