Can you claim your language course as a tax deduction?

Is your language course claimable as a self-education expense?

Do you need to learn a language to help you do your job better? Self-education expenses are deductible when the course you undertake leads to a formal qualification. To claim a deduction for self-education expenses, you must have met one of the following conditions when you incurred the expense:

• The course must have a sufficient connection to your current employment and:
• the course maintained or improved a skill or specific knowledge required for your then current work activities
• you could show that the course was leading to, or was likely to lead to, increased income from your then current work activities, or
• other circumstances existed which established a direct connection between the course and your then current work activities.

A work related self-education expense are expenses you incur when you undertake a work-related course to obtain a formal qualification from a school, college, university or other place of education. You cannot claim a deduction for self-education expenses for a course that does not have a sufficient connection to your current employment even though it might be generally related to it, or enables you to get new employment.
 
The information contained in this article may not necessarily relate to you and you would need to confirm your eligibility with your own accountant.

Check out the following links for more info from the ATO:
https://www.ato.gov.au/Individuals/Income-and-deductions/Deductions-you-can-claim/Self-education-expenses/ or
https://www.ato.gov.au/Individuals/Tax-Return/2018/Tax-return/Deduction-questions-D1-D10/D4-Work-related-self-education-expenses-2018/?=redirected or
https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/income-and-deductions/in-detail/education-and-study/