Tax Tips
Education Tax Refund (ETR)
Education Tax Refund (ETR) aims to help families with children undertaking primary or secondary school studies to meet the costs of school education through assistance with certain education expenses.
Under the Education Tax Refund, eligible families will be able to claim:
- a 50% refundable tax offset every year for up to $750 for each child undertaking primary school (ie a refund of up to $375 per child, per year) and
- a 50% refundable tax offset every year for up to $1,500 for each child undertaking secondary school (ie a refund of up to $750 per child, per year)
For the purposes of the Education Tax Refund, eligible educational expenses are:
- Laptops, home computers and associated costs (including repair and running costs, home internet, printers and paper, educational software
- Textbooks and material and prescribed trade tools
The Education Tax Refund may not be claimed for educational expenses if a tax deduction or a Commonwealth Government payment/subsidy is payable in respect of that expense.
The refundable tax offset will apply to eligible expenses incurred from July 1, 2008. Parents cannot claim the offset in 2008, but they should start keeping records after July 1 to enable their ETR claim to be made in their 2009 Tax Return.
Parents and eligible independent students who do not ordinarily lodge an income tax return can also claim the refund through the Tax Office. For those people, a separate form will be available to allow the refund to be claimed at the end of the 2009 Tax year.
TAX logic will complete your Education Tax Refund (ETR) on your behalf when preparing your next Tax Return.
