Self-Education Expenses: What You Can Claim

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The core test: your current job, not a future one

Self-education expenses are deductible if the study has a genuine connection to the work you're already doing. Specifically, the course must either:

• Maintain or improve the specific skills or knowledge you need in your current job, or
• Be likely to lead to an increase in income from your current employment.

No more $250 threshold

For expenses incurred from 1 July 2022 onwards, the old rule requiring you to reduce your claim by the first $250 has been removed. If your self-education expenses meet the connection test above, they're deductible from the first dollar.

What you can claim

• Course or tuition fees, including student and amenities fees.
• Textbooks, professional journals, and stationery required for the course.
• Student union fees.
• Depreciation on a computer or equipment used for study, to the extent it's used for that purpose.
• Some travel directly connected to attending the course (rules around this can be nuanced — travel from home to a place of education and then to work involves specific conditions).
• Internet and phone use directly related to your study, to the extent of that use.

What you can't claim

• Study undertaken to get a new job, change careers, or open up a new income-earning activity.
• General courses or personal interest study with no specific connection to your current role.
• Childcare costs while you attend classes.
• Repayments of your HECS/HELP debt itself (the compulsory repayment isn't a deductible self-education expense).

Record-keeping

Keep invoices for course fees, receipts for textbooks and materials, and a record of how the course connects to your current role — this connection is often the part the ATO scrutinises most closely, so being able to explain it clearly matters as much as having the receipts themselves.

Related guides

General information only. Consult a tax professional for your specific situation.