Studying to get better at the job you already have can be tax deductible, and since the $250 reduction was abolished you can claim every dollar of eligible cost. The catch is the connection test: the ATO wants to see that the study relates to the work you do now, not the job you hope to get next.

This guide explains the ATO’s self-education rules for the 2025-26 return you are lodging now and for study you are paying for in 2026-27: the “sufficient connection” test and its exclusions, exactly what you can and cannot claim (including the FEE-HELP and HECS-HELP distinction that confuses almost everyone), the travel-leg rules, how to enter the claim in myTax and at label D4, and the records to keep. It is checked against the ATO’s self-education expenses guide, the D4 instructions for 2026 and Taxation Ruling TR 2024/3.

It is written for employees, apprentices and sole traders paying for their own study. If a laptop or other equipment is part of the cost, read it with our guide to claiming a laptop on tax; for the wider picture see work-related tax deductions.

Self-education deductions at a glance

Expense	Deductible?	Notes
Tuition or course fees – full fee-paying place, paid up front or via FEE-HELP / VET Student Loan	Yes	Incurred on the census date (or when paid, if earlier); refunded fees are not claimable
Tuition fees – Commonwealth supported place (HECS-HELP)	No	ATO lists these as not claimable
Repayments of HELP, VSL, SFSS, SSL or AASL loans	No	Never deductible, voluntary or compulsory
Textbooks, journals, stationery, student union and amenities fees	Yes	General course expenses
Internet, phone, computer consumables	Yes, work-study portion	Apportion private use
Laptop, desk, calculator, instruments	Yes	$300 or less in full; over $300 by decline in value, apportioned
Travel home-education-home or work-education-work	Yes	Plus parking at the venue
Travel home-education-work or work-education-home	First leg only	Second leg is private
Accommodation and meals	Only when the study requires you to be away from home overnight	Not for living away for a whole course
Interest on a loan used to pay deductible fees	Yes	Principal repayments are not
Study while your only income is Austudy, ABSTUDY or Youth Allowance	No	These are rebatable benefits

Source: ATO, Self-education expenses; D4 Work-related self-education expenses 2026; TR 2024/3. Checked 7 October 2026.

When is self-education deductible? The sufficient connection test

The ATO’s rule: “You can claim a deduction for a self-education expense if, at the time you incur the expense, it has a sufficient connection to earning income from your employment activities.” That connection exists where the study either “maintains or improves the specific skills or knowledge you require for your current employment activities” or “results in, or is likely to result in, an increase in your income from your current employment activities”. Your employment activities are the duties expected of you in your job, usually set out in your duty statement. The principles are set out in full in TR 2024/3, which replaced the long-standing TR 98/9 in February 2024 without changing the substance of the test.

You cannot claim where, at the time you incur the expense, the study does not have that connection, you are not employed, it relates only in a general way to your work, or it “enables you to get new employment or change employment”. The ATO’s own examples draw the line sharply:

• Bevan, an enrolled nurse studying a Bachelor of Nursing to become a registered nurse at the same hospital – deductible, because it improves skills and is likely to increase income in his current field. A personal care worker doing the same degree could not claim.
• Ranita, a developer whose employer adopts a new language and who takes a course leading to a pay rise – deductible.
• Wendy, a teacher’s aide enrolled in a Bachelor of Education to become a teacher – not deductible; it opens a new career.
• Louis, a computer science student working casually in the university’s computer lab – not deductible; the study only relates generally to the job.
• Callum, made redundant mid-course – semester one fees deductible, semester two (incurred while unemployed) not.
• Alison, whose only income is Austudy – not deductible, because Austudy is a rebatable benefit.

Apportioning a course that is only partly connected

If the qualification as a whole does not connect to your current job but particular subjects do, you can claim those subjects. The ATO’s example is James, who claims the project management unit of his MBA because it relates to his current duties but not the rest of the degree. The same logic applies to Priya, a civil engineer promoted to manage a team: her MBA subjects on project management and organisational behaviour are deductible, international marketing is not, and she apportions the fees accordingly.

What you can claim

Course and tuition fees – and the FEE-HELP versus HECS-HELP distinction

This is where most errors happen. The ATO allows tuition fees, including student services and amenities fees, “if you are enrolled in a full fee-paying place at a university or other higher education institution”, and this includes fees you defer through a FEE-HELP loan or a VET Student Loan. You incur the fee when it becomes a legal obligation, which for deferred fees is the census date, “not when you make a repayment”. The ATO’s example is Tara, who defers a $10,000 MBA fee to FEE-HELP and claims the $10,000 on the census date; her later $5,000 voluntary repayment is not deductible.

Fees for a Commonwealth supported place, paid up front or through HECS-HELP, are specifically listed by the ATO as not claimable. And no repayment of any study loan – HELP (FEE-HELP or HECS-HELP), SFSS, VSL, Student Start-up Loan or Australian Apprenticeship Support Loan – is ever deductible, compulsory or voluntary. Seminar and conference fees are claimable unless your employer paid or reimbursed them.

General course expenses

The ATO lists computer consumables such as printer cartridges, equipment repairs, internet and data usage (not connection fees), phone calls, postage, stationery, student union fees, textbooks, and trade, professional or academic journals. Where an expense is partly private – a home internet plan, for instance – claim only the study-related portion and keep a record of how you worked it out.

Equipment and decline in value

Computers, professional libraries, desks and chairs, calculators and technical instruments are depreciating assets. An asset costing $300 or less that you mainly use for work-related self-education can be claimed in full in the year of purchase; over $300 you claim the decline in value over its effective life, apportioned for private use. The ATO’s example is Danika, whose $1,400 laptop at 80% study use gives decline in value deductions of $460.26 in the first year and $659.74 in the second, and whose $229 desk is claimed in full at 80% – $183.20. The ATO’s depreciation and capital allowances tool does the calculation.

Travel and parking

The ATO’s travel rules are specific. You can claim transport for both legs when you travel “home to your place of education and back home” or “work to your place of education and back to work”. You can claim only the first leg when you travel home to education then on to work, or work to education then home – “the second leg of these trips is private”. Parking at the place of education for a deductible trip is claimable, and the ATO’s example of Akito claiming $15 a day conference parking confirms it. Car travel is claimed under the cents-per-kilometre or logbook method.

Trip	Deductible?
Home – place of education – home	Yes, both legs
Work – place of education – work	Yes, both legs
Home – place of education – work	First leg only (home to education)
Work – place of education – home	First leg only (work to education)
Parking at the education venue on a deductible trip	Yes

Accommodation, meals and interest

Accommodation and meals are normally private living expenses. They become deductible only when “the self-education requires you to be temporarily away from home for one or more nights” – a four-night interstate or overseas conference, for example, but not the extra holiday nights you add on, and not twelve months of living in another city to complete a course. Interest on a loan used to pay deductible fees is claimable; repayments of the principal are not.

What you cannot claim

• Tuition fees paid by someone else, or reimbursed by your employer or a third party.
• HECS-HELP fees for a Commonwealth supported place.
• Repayments – voluntary or compulsory – of HELP, SFSS, VSL, Student Start-up Loans or Australian Apprenticeship Support Loans.
• Accommodation and meals where you are not required to be away from home overnight.
• Any expense incurred while you are not employed, or where your only income is a rebatable Australian Government payment such as Austudy, ABSTUDY or Youth Allowance.
• Study that qualifies you for a new occupation or a new income-earning activity, however closely related to your current industry.

How to claim in your 2025-26 return

In myTax 2026 the claim sits under Deductions, at Work-related self-education expenses. You add each expense, choose the self-education type and then one of four category types – General expenses, Decline in value, Repair expenses or Car expenses – and enter the description and amount. Decline in value can be pulled from the depreciation and capital allowances tool, and car expenses require you to pick the cents-per-kilometre or logbook method. On the paper return or through an agent the same four categories appear at question D4 as A (general expenses including course fees, textbooks, overnight travel and public transport), B (decline in value), C (repairs) and D (car expenses under cents per kilometre), with a claim type code: K where the study maintained or improved a skill you need for your current job, I where it was likely to increase your income. The old Category E, which existed only to work the $250 reduction, no longer appears.

1. Run the ATO’s self-education expenses calculator first – it checks eligibility and estimates the deduction for income years to 2025-26.
2. Gather receipts, your FEE-HELP or VSL statement showing census dates and amounts, travel records and your equipment purchase records.
3. Work out and document any apportionment (private use of internet or a laptop, non-connected subjects).
4. Enter each expense in the correct category in myTax, or give your agent the categorised totals for D4.
5. Keep everything for five years from the date you lodge.

Records and the $300 rule

The ATO requires written evidence – receipts or invoices – for self-education expenses including course fees, textbooks, stationery, depreciating assets and travel, and says you “also need to be able to explain how the course directly relates to your employment activities at the time you incurred the self-education expense”. For depreciating assets keep the purchase record, how you worked out effective life, the method used and your study-use percentage. The general work-expense rules apply on top: if your total work-related claims are $300 or less you need records showing how you calculated them, and above $300 you need written evidence for all of them. Photographs of receipts in the ATO app’s myDeductions tool are acceptable. Our guide to claiming without receipts explains the limited exceptions. Education deductions are a recurring ATO review topic – see our note on ATO audits of education deductions.

Common mistakes

• Claiming HELP repayments. Never deductible. Claim the fee on the census date instead, if the course qualifies.
• Claiming HECS-HELP (Commonwealth supported) fees. Not claimable, even for a connected course.
• Claiming while unemployed or between jobs. The connection is tested at the time you incur each expense.
• Claiming a whole MBA when only some subjects relate to your current role.
• Claiming home-to-university-to-work as a full trip. Only the first leg counts.
• Forgetting to apportion laptops, internet and phone for private use.
• Still deducting $250 from the claim, or still using Category E. Both ended with expenses incurred from 1 July 2022.

Teachers and education staff have their own common claims; see our guide to tax deductions for primary and secondary teachers.

FAQ about self-education expenses

Talk to a registered tax agent

The connection test turns on facts about your job and the course that are easy to get wrong in either direction – people claim degrees they cannot, and miss FEE-HELP fees they can. Nanak Accountants prepares individual returns for clients across Australia and publishes plain-English guides in our tax education hub. Call 1300 626 258 or book a consultation and we will check your study costs before you lodge.

This article is general information only and is not personal tax advice. The deductibility tests, claimable and non-claimable items, travel rules, the removal of the $250 reduction and the 2026 return labels were checked against the ATO’s self-education guidance, the D4 and myTax 2026 instructions and TR 2024/3 on 7 October 2026.