Education Tax Refund - Am I Eligible?

Am I eligible?

I care for a child

You can claim the Education Tax Refund (ETR) if you had eligible education expenses during the financial year for a child who meets the schooling requirement, and:

you received Family Tax Benefit (FTB) Part A for the child
or
a payment was made for the child which prevented you from receiving FTB Part A,
or
your child stopped full-time school during the year and received income over the cut-out amount which prevented you from receiving FTB Part A for the child.

Before you claim the ETR you must first have lodged a claim for FTB Part A for the child with the Family Assistance Office (FAO) and had that claim approved. This includes approved claims where you elected to receive a zero fortnightly rate.

If you have lodged an end-of-year claim for FTB Part A, the FAO can only approve it after you lodge your tax return. In this case, when you are preparing your tax return you are not yet approved to receive FTB Part A, so you cannot claim the ETR in your tax return. If your claim for FTB Part A is approved by the FAO then you will need to ask for an amendment to your tax return to include a claim for the ETR.

If the FAO approves your claim for FTB Part A and at the time you lodged your tax return you were entitled to claim the ETR, but the FAO later, as part of its reconciliation process, determines that you were not entitled to FTB Part A you will need to ask for an amendment to your tax return to remove the claim for the ETR. If you do not seek an amendment and the ATO later identifies that you were not entitled to the ETR, the ATO will adjust your tax return to remove your claim.

You can claim the ETR in some circumstances even if you do not get FTB Part A. Other payments which still entitle you to receive the ETR include:

Youth Allowance
Disability Support Pension
ABSTUDY Living Allowance
the Veterans’ Children Education Scheme
Student Financial Supplement Scheme, and
the scheme to provide education and training under s258 of the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004.

You can claim the ETR even if you do not have to lodge a tax return. For more information, see How do I claim?

I am an independent primary or secondary student

You can claim the ETR if you have eligible education expenses and you:

receive a social security pension or benefit, a labour market program payment or a prescribed educational scheme payment including:
- Youth Allowance
- ABSTUDY Living Allowance
- Veterans’ Children Education Scheme and payments under the scheme to provide education and training under section 258 of the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004, or
- a disability support pension
and, you:
are an independent person for the purpose of the payment
meet the schooling requirement
are under 25 years of age
are an Australian resident (within the meaning of the Social Security Act 1991) or a special category visa holder (within the meaning of the Migration Act 1958), and
live in Australia.

You can claim the ETR even if you do not have to lodge a tax return. For more information, see How do I claim?

What is the schooling requirement?

For the purposes of the ETR, a child or independent student must be:

registered or enrolled in a primary or secondary school course provided at an educational institution, such as a school or TAFE (secondary school study only)
or
registered or enrolled with the education authority of their State or Territory as a home schooled student,
or
registered or enrolled in a course of study or instruction covered under the Student Assistance Act 1973 and which the ETR applies to.

They also must have attended the course of study or instruction, or received home schooling for at least one day in a six-month period, commencing from 1 July or 1 January.

Even if a child only meets the schooling requirement for part of the year you can still claim for that period. This also applies to independent students.

What is Family Tax Benefit (FTB) Part A?

FTB Part A helps with the cost of raising children. It is paid to a parent, guardian, carer (including foster carer), eligible grandparent or approved care organisation.

To be eligible for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) Part A you must

have a dependent child under 16 years of age
or
have a dependent child between the ages of 16-20 years who has completed a Year 12 or equivalent qualification, or who is undertaking full-time education or training leading to a Year 12 or equivalent qualification, or who is exempt from this requirement.
or
have a dependent full-time student 21–24 years of age*,
and
have care of the child for at least 35 per cent of the time,
and
meet the income test,
and
be an Australian resident, or a special category visa holder residing in Australia, or the holder of a certain type of temporary visa.

*From 1 January 2012, a young person who has turned 22 prior to 1 January 2012 but is under 25 can still be an FTB child of the recipient until they finish their current course of study or they turn 25, whichever is sooner.

A child or student cannot be a dependant if they:

are in your primary care for less than 35 per cent of the time,
receive a pension or benefit,
receive a labour market program payment such as Youth Allowance,
are aged 5 to 15, not studying full-time and their annual income is over the child income limit*,
are aged 16-20 and have neither completed a Year 12 or equivalent qualification, or are undertaking full-time education leading to a Year 12 or equivalent qualification and are not exempt from this requirement,
are aged 16 to 19, not in full-time secondary study and have an annual income that is over the child income limit*
are aged 16 to 21 and receiving a prescribed education scheme payment such as ABSTUDY,
are aged over 19 and have an annual income that is over the child income limit, or
are aged 21 and are not a dependent full-time student.**

*The child income limit for 2011-12 is $13,361.
**From 1 January 2012, a young person who has turned 22 prior to 1 January 2012 but is under 25 can still be an FTB child of the recipient until they finish their current course of study or they turn 25, whichever is sooner, if:

they are wholly or substantially dependent on the recipient, and
the young person's income in the financial year will not exceed the child income limit.

For more information on Family Tax Benefit :

Visit www.humanservices.gov.au
Phone 13 61 50 between 8.00am and 8.00pm (local time), Monday to Friday.
Visit any Medicare office or Centrelink service centre.
Phone 13 12 02 if you do not speak English well.
Use the teletypewriter (TTY) service on 1800 810 586 if you have a hearing or speech impairment. (This service is only available via a teletypewriter machine.)