Private ruling: Work related expenses - doctor's certificate
Published: August 2014
Ruling period: Year ended 30 June 2013 | Year ended 30 June 2014 | Year ending 30 June 2015 | Year ending 30 June 2016 | Year ending 30 June 2017 | Year ending 30 June 2018
Date scheme commenced: 1 July 2012

Ruling: Q1: Are you entitled to a deduction for the costs incurred in obtaining a medical certificate that is required under your employment agreement? | A1: No

Relevant facts and circumstances: Under your employment agreement with your employer, you are required to provide documentation, such as a medical certificate from a registered health practitioner, in support of absences under certain circumstances. You may incur costs in seeing a doctor to obtain this documentation. Failure to obtain documentation may result in you not being paid for the relevant absence.

Relevant legislative provisions: Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 Section 8-1

Reasons for decision: Summary: 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, except where the outgoings are of a capital, private or domestic nature. Generally, expenses associated with visiting a doctor are private in nature as they relate to a person's own physical wellbeing and are not deductible. An employer's requirement that an employee incur expenditure which is not related to income-producing activities does not convert that expenditure into a deductible outgoing ( FC of T v. Cooper 91 ATC 4396 at 4414; (1991) 21 ATR 1616 at 1636 ( Cooper's case )). In Cooper's case the taxpayer was a professional footballer who was ordered by his coach to eat large quantities of particular foods as he needed to gain weight. If he did not gain this weight, he would be dropped from first grade to reserve grade and this would drastically reduce his income. The courts found that whilst the expense affected his income, gaining weight was not part of his income earning activities and the expense of purchasing additional food remained private. In Cooper's case Hill J said: ...the fact that the employee is required, as a term of his employment, to incur a particular expenditure does not convert expenditure that is not incurred in the course of the income producing operations into a deductible outgoing. In your case, you are required to obtain documentation to support your absences from work in certain circumstances. You may incur costs in seeing a doctor to obtain this documentation; otherwise you may not be paid for the relevant absence. These expenses are private in nature and, as provided in Cooper's case , the fact it may be a requirement of your employer does not alter the nature of the expenses. Accordingly, you are not entitled to a deduction under section 8-1 of the ITAA 1997 for expenses incurred in visiting a doctor to obtain a medical certificate.