Education Tax Refund

From 1 July 2008, a wide range of education expenses qualify for the Education Tax Refund.

This is a 50% tax refund on your expenses, up to a maximum of $750 expenses for a primary school child, and $1,500 expenses for a secondary school child. The 50% tax refund means that for each dollar you spend, you get 50c back on the tax return. So you will be paid a maximum of $375 per primary-school child and $750 per secondary-school child as a tax refund.

[I notice that secondary-school children are paid more than primary-school children, and I know that kids at school are sometimes "promoted" a school year - this would mean they were "secondary-school children" a year earlier. Some home-schools may do the same thing.]

Here is an Education Tax Refund pamphlet from the government, published July 2008:

http://www.treasury.gov.au/documents/1394/PDF/Education_Tax_Refund_Factsheet.pdf

Highlights from the pamphlet:

• home educators are eligible but they must be registered with the local Department of Education.
• if you spend over the limit, you can claim excess payment in the next year's return, but not the one after that. (eg, if a person has one primary school child and buys them a $2,000 computer, they can claim $750 of that in the first year, $750 in the second year, but nothing in the third year)
• "Eligible expenses" include "computers", :"Internet connection", "education software", "school textbooks AND MATERIAL", "stationary". The "and material" sounds like it might cover a great deal, but the pamphlet isn't clear. The final instructions with the 2008/09 tax return will probably be clearer.
• If you don't normally lodge a tax return, a separate claim form will be available at tax time. This means that even if you have a low income and don't need to pay tax, you can still get the money.

Because it will be claimed as a tax refund, the normal rules for tax returns apply. You are supposed to have dockets to show expenses, and evidence that your children are registered with the Department of Education. Note that in Australia, we have a self-assessment system for tax returns - so if you lodge your own returns, the only time anyone will ever look at your dockets and other evidence is if you are tax-audited.

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