I have been dabbling with shares for a few years now, at the beginning of 2008 I signed up for a course with the Share Market College (SMC). The course that I signed up for included daily seminars and access to a share trading platform, a market analysis program and access to half hourly internet updates to market activity. I have used the share analysis program to decide when to buy but have not used the trading platform as I have been using commsec to trade. I have a two questions if anyone could help out: 1 - Can I claim the cost for the course and its products? I asked my accountant about claiming these costs and was told that I could not. 2 - Am I able to claim part of the cost of my computer and internet connection fees? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
jmll I am not an accountant but from what I know unless they are education expenses related to your current job I don't believe you can claim them.
I'm also not an accountant - but I believe that you should be able to claim the expenses if they relate to assessable income that you produce. If you produce income from your share trading, then it should be reasonable to claim some of the expenses (if the expenses are greater than the income, you may have a more difficult time justifying it). Your accountant should be able to confirm this. More information from the ATO: Income from dividends Interest and dividend deductions You and your shares 2007-08 TD 2004/1 - Income tax: are the costs of subscriptions to share market information services and investment journals deductible under section 8-1 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997? (As at 14 January 2004) TD 95/60 - Income tax: are fees paid for obtaining investment advice an allowable deduction under subsection 51(1) of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 ('the Act')for taxpayers who are not carrying on an investment business? (As at 29 November 2006) IT 39 - Expenditure incurred in servicing or managing income producing investments - application of section 51(1) (As at 8 April 1980) Tax Office review of interest and dividend deductions
It depends ...... You say you are merely "dabbling" in investment. Therefore courses and subscriptions relevant to your ongoing "investment" could be deductible - either in fill or depreciated where appropriate for capital items like software. However, if you enrol on a "trading" course to engage in a new and more intense activity closer to being a business then the ATO could argue that these costs are both preparatory and of a capital nature - being intended to open up new income producing activities. It all depends on your details, intention and history. Cheers, Rob
news article from the brisbane times THE Sharemarket College, a private Brisbane teaching institution, has emerged as a key agent for Sonray Capital Markets, the Australian financial services company that imploded last month. The administrator Ferrier Hodgson froze $65 million worth of creditors' funds after the collapse, affecting about 4000 investors. The college is an authorised representative of Sonray and runs courses in shares trading, the self-management of super and intraday and options trading. It also teaches students how to trade high-risk financial instruments called contracts for difference, or CFDs, with the online trading program SMC Trader. Ferrier Hodgson said investors with exposure to Sonray were introduced to the company through a small number of ''authorised representatives'' or ''introducers'' like Sharemarket College. Advertisement: Story continues below The actor John Jarratt, star of Wolf Creek, appears in a promotional video on the company's website as a ''Sharemarket College member''. In it Jarratt tells how the college can help ''make your money grow, take charge and keep the change''. One statement on the website explains how CFDs can increase exposure to shares: ''For a normal gearing of up to 10 times, an investment of only $10,000 can command a position of $100,000 in the stock market''. On another website the chief executive of the college, Graeme Rogers, says CFD trading is ''as easy as buying a simple stock in Australia''. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission believes a large proportion of traders do not understand the risks associated with CFDs. A recent ASIC report found investors had been trading CFDs although they lacked the ability and knowledge to do so. It also found about 15 per cent of CFD traders invested between 50 and 100 per cent of their portfolios in the product. ''Some investors are trading CFDs within their self-managed superannuation funds, and some investors are using their retirement savings as trading capital. These behaviours are all a cause for concern as the highly leveraged nature of the product means that small market movements could easily result in margin calls which traders may be unable to meet,'' ASIC's study said. The market for CFDs has flourished in Australia, despite being banned in the United. States
