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Edited version of your written advice
Authorisation Number: 1012784216859
Ruling
Subject: Work related expenses - self education
Question and answer
Are you entitled to a claim deduction for course fees incurred on a FEE-HELP loan while studying Course A?
Yes, in part.
Subjects ineligible for deduction:
Subject 1
Subject 2
Subject 3
Subject 4
Subject 5
Subject 6
Subject 7
Subject 8
Subject 9
Subjects eligible for deduction:
Subject 10
Subject 11
This ruling applies for the following periods:
Year ended 30 June 2014
Year ending 30 June 2015
Year ending 30 June 2016
Year ending 30 June 2017
The scheme commences on:
1 July 2013
Relevant facts and circumstances
You are employed as a Product Manager.
Your job responsibilities include marketing and analysing consumer behaviour.
You are currently completing Course A at University A.
You are a full-fee paying student.
You incurred course fees during the 2013-14 financial year.
The course fees were paid under the FEE-HELP system.
You will incur course fees in future financial years.
Relevant legislative provisions
Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 Section 8-1
Reasons for decision
Section 8-1 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (ITAA 1997) allows a deduction for all losses and outgoings to the extent to which they are incurred in gaining or producing assessable income or are necessarily incurred in carrying on a business for the purpose of gaining or producing assessable income except where the outgoings are of a capital, private or domestic nature, or relate to the earning of exempt income.
A number of significant court decisions have determined that, for an expense to satisfy the tests outlined in section 8-1 of the ITAA 1997:
• it must have the essential character of an outgoing incurred in gaining assessable income or, in other words of an income-producing expense (Lunney v FC of T (1958) 100 CLR 478);
• there must be a connection between the outgoing and the assessable income so that the outgoing is incidental and relevant to the gaining of assessable income (Ronpibon Tin NL v FC of T (1949) 78 CLR 47)
• it is necessary to determine the connection between the particular outgoing and the operations or activities by which the taxpayer most directly gains or produces his or her assessable income (Charles Moore & Co (WA) Pty Ltd v FC of T (1956) 95 CLR 344; FC of T v Hatchett 71 ATC 4184).
Taxation Ruling TR 98/9 Income tax: deductibility of self-education expenses incurred by an employee or a person in business discusses the circumstances under which self-education expenses are allowable as a deduction.
A deduction is allowable for self-education expenses if a taxpayer's current income earning activities are based on the exercise of a skill or some specific knowledge and the subject of the self-education enables the taxpayer to maintain or improve that skill or knowledge (Federal Commissioner of Taxation v. Finn (1961) 106 CLR 60, (1961) 12 ATD 348).
Similarly, 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, a deduction is allowable.
However, TR 98/9 states that no deduction is allowable for self-education expenses if the study is to 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). The expenses are incurred at a point too soon to be regarded as incurred in gaining or producing assessable income. They are incurred in getting, not in doing, the work which produces the income (High Court decision in FC of T v. Maddalena 71 ATC 4161; (1971) 2 ATR 541).
Also if a course of study is too general in terms of the taxpayer's current income earning activities, the necessary connection between the self-education expense and the income earning activity does not exist.
In your case, you are studying Course A and you are employed as a Product Manager. The study of Course A would normally be considered too general in terms of your income earning activities as a Product Manager. However, we have considered each subject of study you are going to complete and determined if there is a sufficient connection with your current position.
We have determined that Subject 10 and Subject 11 have a sufficient connection with your income earning activities and therefore are eligible for a deduction. We consider the remaining subjects to be too general and have an insufficient connection with your income earning activities.