Private ruling: Employee deductions - therapy dog
Date of advice: 29 November 2022
Published: 23 January 2023
Ruling period: 30 June 20YY
Date scheme commenced: DD MM YYYY

Ruling: Q1: Are you entitled to claim a deduction for a portion of the expenses related to the maintenance, training and care of a certified resident therapy dog? | A1: Yes. The expenses incurred for a therapy dog that is actively engaged in your occupation as a speech therapist are deductible under section 8-1 of the Income tax Assessment Act 1997 (ITAA 1997). This is because there is a sufficient nexus between the use of the dog and the nature of your income producing activities.

Relevant facts and circumstances: You are a director and employee of a therapy provider business. You purchased a dog for the purpose of training it to become a resident therapy dog that could be used in your role as an employee of your business. The dog attended your workplace every day of the working week to receive on-site training towards becoming a certified resident therapy dog. The dog received its certification to be a resident therapy dog and has since been working alongside you to provide therapy supports to your clients. The therapy dog joins you in every therapy session. The therapy dog's duties include: • Providing security and safety within the centre for those clients who have experienced trauma. • Supporting client regulation through deep pressure and adjusting his behaviours appropriately to meet the client's needs. • Supporting expressing language development through a range of commands, which includes basic core words, for the clients to utilise when developing their expressive language skills. • Supporting the development of functional communication. • Supporting the client's development of self-care skills. The resident therapy dog has been trained to tolerate a range of self-care skills such as brushing his teeth, brushing his hair, washing, nails clipped, and wearing clothes to support and densities clients who have sensitivities to self-care tasks. • Proving supports to transition clients between environments. • Providing Animal safety, awareness, and desensitisation.

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