Hello forum,
I am planning to return to uni some time soon to enrol for a part time education program. I am not 100% sure but i think some of the uni expenses can be claimed in tax returns. Is my assumption correct ?
Has any one claimed the expenses and can share in this forum about what all can be claimed ? Is there any limit for the claims ?
Appreciate uour comments !!
Cheers !!
Thanks.
Yes I am taking the course which will help me with my current role. Its very relevant to my work skill. Any expenses which I can claim if that's the case?
You can claim any expenses that you incur to do the study.
Some examples:
- Travel between work and study (not home)
- textbooks, stationery, printing, copying etc.
- the percentage of items used for study (e.g. you buy a new laptop that is 50% used for study)
- percentage of Internet used for study
- professional memberships, journals etc.
No you cannot claim "ANY" expenses that you incur.
http://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/content.aspx?menuid=0&doc=…
"Your current employment and the course you undertake must have sufficient connection for your self-education expenses to qualify as a work-related tax deduction. If a course of study is too general in terms of your current income-earning activities, the necessary connection between the self-education expense and your income-earning activity does not exist."
As I said in my first post. The rules have changed. Obtain advice to ensure your university course is related to your employment. Otherwise you can claim pretty much zilch :(
Yes you can claim "ANY" expenses you incur directly due to the education course (caveat, not PELS charges). The requirement has always been that the course be related to your job, and ozshaz confirmed the connection yesterday.
Note, this means you can't claim costs to for example, study architecture while you work as a shop assistant. Which I personally think is stupid, as we should be encouraging upskilling.
Just read that when the government implements the Gonski school reform, education-related expenses that can be claimed would be capped at $2,000 per year. You might want to have that in mind.
Yeah i heard about that but does that cap includes the fees or just the additonal expenses like as mentioned by @mskeggs above
Thank you all for the comments !! My course is very much relevant to my work and hopefully I can claim most of my expenses. I am planning to take FEE HELP and to include my repayments in my tax claims under section D4. As suggested I will also consult with a accountant on this..
It's all changed. Unless you are partaking in education relevant to your current employment there's not much benefit to be had.