Self- education expenses are generally tax-deductible for individuals if there’s a sufficient connection with your income-producing activities.However, until new legislation was recently passed, the amount you could deduct was limited by s 82A of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 so that only the amount spent over a $250 threshold was deductible.

This threshold was an artefact from when the self education deduction measure was first introduced more than 40 years ago, alongside a long-repealed concessional tax rebate of $250. The original intention of the deduction limit was to ensure that taxpayers didn’t receive both the tax rebate and a tax deduction for the same set of expenses.

With the non-deductible threshold removed, you will only need to ensure the following applies when you claim a self education deduction:

• you incurred the expense in gaining or producing your assessable income;
• the expense isn’t private, domestic or capital in nature; and
• the deduction isn’t prevented by another provision of the tax law (eg such as some childcare and travel expenses that would previously have been useable to reduce the $250 threshold).

The change applies for tax assessments for the 2022– 2023 income year and onwards.