Honestly, July might be my favourite month, if not just because of tax returns. Copping a sweet couple of grand simply for existing? Yes, please. Sure, I know that it’s my actual hard-earned money, but that still doesn’t change the fact that July often feels like financial Christmas.
If you’re anything like me, you’ll often leap to doing your tax return as soon as possible because MMMMMM MONEY OM NOM NOM!!!!! But if you take a bit of extra time, you’ll probably find that you’ll get an even better return on your tax thanks to the presence of handy tips and tricks, just like this one.
According to news.com.au, you might be entitled to a bunch of extra cash in your taxc return if you look at the professional education section.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) says ‘self-education’ expenses are the stuff that maintains or improves knowledge required for your job, or are likely to increase your income from your current job.
And according to McCrindle research, 30 per cent of Aussies spend an average of a whopping $1,936 on professional education each year.
Now, that can take a bunch of forms. This can include things directly correlating to study, like tuition fees, textbooks, or stationary. But you also might be able to claim the depreciation value of a computer if you used it for education and work.
Obviously, it also depends on what industry you work in. If you work in hospitality, a cooking class might technically qualify as an education expense. But if you work in an office, you might be able to claim some expenses with that fancy conference your boss made you attend.
Here’s a list of what our overlords, the ATO, decree ‘self-education’ expenses:
- Tuition fees, textbooks, stationery, student union fees, and student services and amenities fees.
- Decline in value (depreciation) deductions for items such as a computer, desk, or car.
- Repair costs to assets used for self-education purposes.
- Child care costs related to attendance at lectures or other self-education activities
- Some travel expenses, including public transport fares and car expenses.
- Accomodation and meal expenses if you’re required to be away for one or more nights.
You can check out a full list of what’s consituted as ‘self-education’ expenses here.
While self-education expenses sound like you need to be doing another uni degree in order to claim them (which you can), you might also be able to claim expenses if you’ve attended a work conference or are doing self-paced learning.
You can’t claim a deduction if you are not employed or it doesn’t have sufficient connection to your employment.
According to news.com.au, you might also be able to deduct the cost of content subscriptions that help with your work, like newspaper on online news sites. BRB, claiming all of my Netflix expenses.
The whole thing is obvs very complicated and we are defos not tax agents (my only relationship with money is that I love spending it), so it’s always a good idea to have a chat with your accountant or financial advisor before making any financial decisions.
