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Education tax refund

Last updated 12 February 2019

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You can claim the education tax refund only if you meet one of the following conditions:

  1. you received family tax benefit (FTB) Part A for a child undertaking primary or secondary studies
  2. a child undertaking primary or secondary studies was not your 'FTB child' because certain payments were paid for the child
  3. you would have met condition 1 or 2 if your child had not stopped school and earned too much income, or

you were an independent student under 25 years old undertaking primary or secondary studies. The words printed in bold are explained in Explanation of terms.

You may be eligible for the education tax refund (ETR) if you, or your partner, incurred eligible education expenses between 1 July 2009 and 30 June 2010 for the primary or secondary school studies (at school, home or TAFE) of:

  • a child, or
  • yourself, if you were an independent student under 25 years old undertaking primary or secondary studies.

For you to be eligible to claim the ETR for an expense for a student, the expense must be an eligible education expense, and when the expense was incurred:

You can only claim carry forward excess eligible education expenses from last year if you are eligible for the ETR for 'eligible education expenses' incurred this year. Your excess eligible expenses that can be carried forward is the amount that you worked out last year at step 8 of the education tax offset calculation. You should have a record of this amount.

Do you need to lodge an individual tax return for 2009-10?

Yes

Claim the ETR on your Tax return for individuals 2010 (NAT 2541).

No

Read below.

Do you want to claim the ETR?

No

You don't need to read this publication.

Yes

Read Explanation of terms.

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