Wikiversity Law Reports/Commissioner of Taxation v Anstis

High Court of Australia

TL;DR: Self-education expenses are deductible where the course of education is a condition of receiving an assessable government payment such as Youth Allowance

Facts

 * A taxpayer, 'A', was studying teaching and receiving Youth Allowance.
 * A incurred self-education expenses including the purchase of textbooks.
 * The Income Tax Assessment Act allowed a deduction from a taxpayer's taxable income.
 * A claimed a deduction for these expenses. The Commissioner disallowed the deduction and disallowed an objection against that decision. The taxpayer appealed unsuccessfully to the Federal Court and Full Federal Court.

Held

 * Youth Allowance is ordinary income.
 * The self-education expenses were incurred in the course of qualifying for, and thereby gaining, assessable income (being Youth Allowance)
 * The self-education expenses were not private or domestic in nature because they were directly connected with the taxpayer's 'position' as a recipient of Youth Allowance, not just her existence as a human being.

Other publishers' references

 * [2010 HCA 40]
 * (2010) 241 CLR 443
 * (2010) 272 ALR 1
 * (2010) 76 ATR 735
 * (2010) 85 ALJR 122
 * [2010] ATC 20-221