Private ruling: Work related deduction - timepiece
Published: December 2014
Ruling period: Year ended 30 June 2015
Date scheme commenced: 1 July 2014

Ruling: Q1: Can you claim a deduction for expenses relating to the cost and maintenance of a timepiece used during your employment as a commercial pilot? | A1: No.

Relevant facts and circumstances: You are employed. You are required to carry "an accurate timepiece indicating the time in hours, minutes and seconds" when carrying out your employment duties. Your employer does not stipulate that the timepiece needs any special attributes that would differentiate it from a timepiece that would be used for private purposes.

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, or relate to the earning of exempt income. Generally for a wristwatch to be deductible it must have special attributes which transfer the expense from having a private nature to having an income producing nature, such as a stopwatch used by a personal trainer. However your employer does not stipulate that the timepiece requires any special attributes that would differentiate it from a timepiece that would be used for private purposes. Although they stipulate that the timepiece must be accurate, that is not considered a special attribute. Therefore we consider the cost and maintenance of timepieces to be essentially private in nature, and deduction is allowable under section 8-1 of the ITAA 1997.