The following information is provided as a convenience and has been sourced from the Australian Tax Office website. Any links below will open in a new window on the ATO website.

Self-education expenses

You can claim a deduction for self-education and study expenses if the education relates to your current employment activities or if you receive a taxable bonded scholarship.

You generally can’t claim the first $250 of expenses for your self-education. Find out about when you must include a $250 reduction in expenses before you can claim.

For a summary of this content in poster format, see Self-education expenses (PDF, 290KB)This link will download a file.

On this page:

• Eligibility to claim
• Expenses you can claim
• Expenses you can’t claim
• $250 reduction in expenses
• Apportioning expenses

Eligibility to claim

You can claim self-education and study expenses you incur when the course you take leads to a formal qualification and meets the following conditions.

The course must have a sufficient connection to your current employment activities as an employee and either:

• maintains or improves the specific skills or knowledge you require in your current employment activities
• results in or is likely to result in, an increase in your income from your current employment activities.

You can’t claim a deduction for self-education and study expenses for a course that:

• doesn’t have a sufficient connection to your current work activities
• only relates in a general way to your current employment – such as undertaking a full-time fashion photography course and working as a casual sales assistant on the weekends
• enables you to get new employment or change employment – such as moving from employment as a nurse to employment as a doctor.

Taxable bonded scholarship recipients

You can claim a deduction for self-education expenses if, in doing the course, you are satisfying study requirements to maintain your right to a taxable bonded scholarship.

If you’re an employee of the scholarship provider, normal work-related self-education rules apply.

Expenses you can claim

If your self-education and study expenses meet the eligibility criteria, you can claim a deduction for following expenses:

• General course expenses
• Depreciating assets
• Car expenses

General course expenses

You can claim a deduction for the following general course expenses:

• accommodation and meals (if away from home overnight)
• car expenses
• computer consumables – for example, printer cartridges
• course and tuition fees, if you pay these
• decline in value for depreciating assets (cost exceeds $300)
• equipment or technical instruments (costing $300 or less)
• equipment repairs
• fares
• fees payable on some study and training support loans, but not repayments on the loan itself
• home office running costs
• interest
• internet and data usage (excluding connection fees)
• parking fees (only for work-related claims)
• phone calls
• postage
• stationery
• student union fees
• student services and amenities fees
• textbooks
• trade, professional, or academic journals
• travel costs, including car expenses
  • between home and your place of education
  • between your workplace and the place of education.

Some travel for journeys can’t be claimed, but you may be able to offset the cost of these journeys against the $250 reduction in expenses.

You can only claim a deduction for the self-education expenses that relate to your current employment.

Depreciating assets

You may be able to claim a deduction for assets that lose their value over time such as computers and printers.

You can claim assets that cost more than $300 over the life of the asset (decline in value). If the asset that cost $300 or less you can claim an immediate deduction for the full cost of the asset to the extent that you used it for study in the income year you bought it. If you also use the asset for private purposes you can only claim a deduction for the work-related use of the asset.

Find out about:

• Apportioning expenses

Car expenses

If your self-education and study expenses have sufficient connection to your current employment, you can claim daily travel expenses from your:

• home to your place of education and back
• work to your place of education and back.

However, you can’t claim the cost of the last stage of your travel. For example:

• home to your place of education, and then to work
• work to your place of education, and then to your home.

Use our Self-education expenses calculator to help you work out your eligibility to claim and estimate your deduction.

See also:

• Claiming self-education expenses – specific expenses
• myDeductions – record-keeping tool in the ATO app

Expenses you can’t claim

You can’t claim the following expenses in relation to your self-education:

• tuition fees paid by someone else or that your employer or a third-party reimburses you for
• student contribution amounts
• repayments of study and training support loans such as
  • Higher Education Loan Program (HELP)
  • Student Financial Supplement Scheme (SFSS)
  • VET Student Loans (VSL)
  • Student Start-up Loans (SSL)Trade Support Loan Program (TSL)
• home office occupancy expenses – for example, rent, mortgage interest or rates
• accommodation and meals (unless sleeping away from home for study, such as to attend a residential school).

From the 2011–12 income year onwards, you can’t claim a deduction for self-education and study expenses you incur if you only receive a qualifying Australian Government allowance or payment. This allowance or payment is a rebatable benefit and is eligible for the beneficiary tax offset.

See also:

• Claiming self-education expenses – specific expenses
• TR 98/9 – Income tax: deductibility of self-education expenses incurred by an employee or a person in business

$250 reduction in expenses

There are five categories that we place self-education expenses in to. If all of your self-education expenses are from ‘category A’ then you have to reduce your total claim for self-education and study by $250.

However, if you have expenses which are not allowable as a deduction from ‘category E’, you can be use these expenses to offset the $250 reduction.

Expenses offset against the $250 reduction

While you can’t claim a deduction for the following expenses, you can use them to offset the $250 reduction. These expenses include:

• childcare while attending self-education activities
• capital expenses related to your self-education such as, the purchase of a desk
• fares, travel or car expenses for these journeys
  • for work-related self-education, the second leg of a trip if you went from home to your place of education and then to work, or the other way around
  • if you receive a taxable bonded scholarship and are not an employee of the scholarship provider, travel from home to your normal place of education and back.

See also:

• Self-education expenses calculator
• Claiming self-education expenses – specific expenses you can claim

Apportioning expenses

You need to apportion some expenses between private purposes and use for self-education. For example, travel costs and depreciating assets.

If you use equipment such as computers and printers privately and for study, you must apportion the expenses. You base your claim on the percentage you use the equipment for your work-related self-education and study. For example, if you use a computer 50% of the time for self-education and 50% for private purposes, you can only claim half the cost of the computer.

Use our Self-education expenses calculator to work out your eligibility and get an estimate of your self-education deductions.