Australian Government

Education Tax Redunds.

How much can I claim?

I care for a child fulltime

The Education Tax Refund (ETR) can be claimed each financial year for a child who meets the schooling requirement.

Maximum claimable amounts

The ETR entitles you to claim 50% of eligible education expenses up to the maximum claimable amounts. For the 2009 -2010 income year the amounts are:

$780 for each primary school child – that’s a maximum refund of $390 for each primary school child you have, and
$1,558 for each secondary school child – that’s a maximum refund of $779 for each secondary school child.

If you care for a child fulltime and are eligible to claim the ETR, you are entitled to claim the full maximum claimable amounts for each of your children who meet the schooling requirement.

I share the care of a child

If you’re eligible, you can claim the ETR each financial year for children in your care who meet the schooling requirement.

The ETR entitles you to claim 50% of eligible education expenses up to the maximum claimable amounts. For the 2009 -2010 income year the amounts are:

$780 for each primary school child – that’s a maximum refund of $390 for each primary school child you have, and
$1,558 for each secondary school child – that’s a maximum refund of $779 for each secondary school child.

If you share care of a child, the amount you can claim under the ETR depends on the shared care percentage you have for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) Part A for that child.

If you share the care of a child with a person who is not your current partner and a payment was made for that child that prevented you receiving FTB Part A, you will need to calculate your ETR based on the percentage of nights during the year that the child was in your care.

An ETR calculator is available to help you calculate your refund. You will also find some examples in the FAQ’s and examples.

I am an independent student

If you’re eligible, you can claim the ETR for each financial year that you meet the schooling requirement.

For the 2009 – 2010 income year you can claim up to $1,558 of your eligible education expenses. This means that the maximum refund you can claim is limited to $779.

Rolling over excess eligible expenses

If you spend over the maximum claimable amount in one financial year you can claim the excess eligible education expenses the following year. Eligible expenses that are not claimed within two financial years are lost and cannot be claimed in later years.

Example

Lachlan is in year 10 and during the 2009 – 2010 income year his parents purchased a computer, a printer and educational software for his study totalling $2,000. Lachlan also attended school the year before so he satisfies the schooling requirement for the whole of the financial year.

As Lachlan’s father Robert receives FTB Part A he is eligible to make a claim for the whole of the income year. To determine his excess eligible education expenses for the current year Robert halves the eligible education expenses ($1000) and compares the amount to the refund limit he can claim ($779 for a secondary school student ). In this situation, there is an excess of $221. Robert would double the excess ($442) to restore it to the original expense value.

Assuming Robert and Lachlan still meet the eligibility and schooling requirements for the ETR in the following income year, Robert can include the $442 of expenses in the following year when calculating his refund entitlement for that year

Fact Sheet - Find out more about the Education Tax Refund