Private ruling: Self education expenses
Date of advice: 16 December 2019
Published: March 2020
Ruling period: Year ended 30 June 2018 | Year ended 30 June 2019
Date scheme commenced: 1 July 2017

Ruling: Q1: Are your self-education expenses deductible? | A1: Yes Your self-education expenses are deductible, as it is accepted the study meets the requirements detailed in Taxation Ruling TR 98/9. Further information about self-education expenses can be found by searching 'QC 31970' on ato.gov.au

Relevant facts and circumstances: You work full time and were nominated by your manager to undertake an intensive Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree. You have been employed full time for over four years. You took unpaid leave for the year, expecting to return to the same role. After completing the degree, you returned to the same department, and were placed in a different, though similar role by your manager. Your employer did not pay for your degree. You undertook the degree to improve your skills and knowledge and to provide yourself with an opportunity for increasing your responsibilities in your existing role. Since returning to work you have been placed on projects that have required the skills from your MBA and you have completed work that you did not have the knowledge to do prior to your course. You believe the course is sufficiently connected to your current work activities, as you are doing a lot of strategy work, managing a team and utilising the business acumen that you developed in order to deliver projects. In your role you have administrative/strategic/business management/procedure and process decision making components, all of which use knowledge from your MBA. You paid some course fees upfront and some using HELP. You received some scholarships for study and living expenses. You did not receive a taxable bonded scholarship. You were unable to work during the course due to the intensive course load, you were on unpaid leave, and did not have any income in the year of study. The director of your work department recommended your course to be funded by the business, but this funding did not eventuate. You provided a letter of support from the director of your work group stating that the course was, and is, directly relevant to your role. You have provided a travel journal documenting your overseas group study tour. The core and elective subjects of your course included skills to enable you to maintain or improve your core responsibilities.

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