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.

Also, if you have had to work from home due to the COVID-19 there are also additional tax benefits you can claim due to having to use your personal resources. If you work from home, you will be able to claim a deduction for the additional running expenses you incur. These include:

• electricity expenses associated with heating, cooling and lighting the area from which you are working and running items you are using for work
• cleaning costs for a dedicated work area
• phone and internet expenses
• computer consumables (for example, printer paper and ink) and stationery
• home office equipment, including computers, printers, phones, furniture and furnishings – you can claim either the
  • full cost of items up to $300
  • decline in value for items over $300.

https://www.ato.gov.au/General/COVID-19/Support-for-individuals-and-employees/Employees-working-from-home/
 
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/2019/Tax-return/Deduction-questions-D1-D10/D4-Work-related-self-education-expenses-2019/ or
https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/income-and-deductions/in-detail/education-and-study/