- Evidence to support expense
- Substantiation
Evidence to support expense
If you incurred work-related self-education expenses and wish to claim these as a deduction, the nexus has to be established. If your tax return is selected for a review or an audit, you may be asked to provide the following records to the ATO:
- explanation of and/or details of the following:
- your employment duties at the time the course was being undertaken
- the aims and/or specific purpose of the course and how it was directly relevant to your current duties, or likely to lead to an increase in your salary, wages and allowances
- a letter from your employer(s), including contact name and telephone number, to confirm:
- that you were required – or actively supported by the employer(s) – to undertake a course as part of carrying out your employment duties
- that the course undertaken was directly relevant to your current duties at that time or likely to lead to an increase in your current salary, wages and allowances
- details of any reportable fringe benefits, allowances or reimbursements to compensate you for expenses incurred
Substantiation
To substantiate the deduction you may be asked to keep the following records:
- written evidence showing full details of the course undertaken such as an academic record, including:
- the name of the course
- the institution at which it was undertaken
- details of the subject studied and course overview
- if the study was on a full-time or part-time basis
- the period the course was undertaken during the year
- list of all items included in your claim for self-education expenses and receipts or other documentary evidence for each item, for example, course fees, books and stationery, travel, computer expenses, depreciation of and repairs to items of equipment
- other evidence, where necessary, about how specific expenses relate to the course being undertaken and expenses claimed
- other evidence, where necessary, to support expenses incurred, such as car, travel, or depreciation expenses. The nature of the evidence required may vary depending on the specific expense – for example a diary, course outlines or timetables may support car expenses using the cents per kilometre method, whereas a diary and receipts are required to support apportioning the business and private component of expenses for depreciating assets
In some instances you may have to reduce your allowable self-education expenses by up to $250.
