Yes
Section 8-1 — deductions for expenses incurred earning assessable income, this is the main section covering deductions.
It applies to all taxpayers who claim a loss or outgoing under section 8-1 of the ITAA, whether or not the taxpayer accounts for income on a cash receipts or earnings basis. 3. To qualify for deduction under section 8-1 a loss or outgoing must have been incurred.
It is an Act to provide for the imposition, calculation and collection of Commonwealth income taxes and for related purposes such as the administration of the Commonwealth Income Tax Regime by the Australian Taxation Office
Subject to the general tests under section 8-1 being met, the following types of expenses related to self-education are allowable:
(a)
course or tuition fees of attending an educational institution, work-related conference or seminar, including student union fees;
(b)
the cost of professional and trade journals, textbooks[1 ] and stationery;
(c)
airfares incurred on overseas study tours or sabbatical, on work-related conferences or seminars, or attending an educational institution. They are part of the necessary cost of participating in the tour, etc.;
(d)
interest incurred on borrowed monies where the funds are used to pay for self-education expenses associated with a course of education, that enables a taxpayer to maintain or improve his or her skill or knowledge or is likely to lead to an increase in income from the taxpayer's current income-earning activities. Regard must be had to the connection between the interest expense and the income-earning activity in each income year interest is claimed because a change in circumstances, for example, a change of employment, may mean that the necessary connection no longer exists
Explanation:
Section 8-1 of the ITAA 1997
12. Self-education expenses are deductible under section 8-1 where they have a relevant connection to the taxpayer's current income-earning activities.
13. If a taxpayer's income-earning activities are based on the exercise of a skill or some specific knowledge and the subject of self-education enables the taxpayer to maintain or improve that skill or knowledge, the self-education expenses are allowable as a deduction.
14. If the study of a subject of self-education objectively leads to, or is likely to lead to, an increase in a taxpayer's income from his or her current income-earning activities in the future, the self-education expenses are allowable as a deduction.
15. The fact that the study will enable a taxpayer to get employment, to obtain new employment or to open up a new income-earning activity (whether in business or in the taxpayer's current employment) is not a sufficient basis in itself for self-education expenses to be deductible. This includes studies relating to a particular profession, occupation or field of employment in which the taxpayer is not yet engaged. The expenses are incurred at a point too soon to be regarded as incurred in gaining or producing assessable income.
16. In practice, the above principles do not always operate on a mutually exclusive basis. It is always necessary to have regard to the words of section 8-1 and apply them to the facts.
17. An expense is deductible under section 8-1 when it has the essential character of an income-producing expense. The essential character is to be determined by an objective analysis of all the surrounding circumstances. There are circumstances where apportionment under section 8-1 is required. For example, if a study tour or attendance at a work-related conference or seminar is undertaken for income-earning purposes and for private purposes, it is appropriate to apportion the expenses between the purposes. If the income-earning purpose is merely incidental to the main private purpose, only the expenses which relate directly to the former purpose are allowable. However, if the private purpose is merely incidental to the main income-earning purpose, apportionment is not appropriate.
