Self education and investment training.

If you undertake an investment training course can you claim it as self education?

I got this of the ATO website

Claiming self-education expenses
What are self-education expenses?

Self-education expenses are expenses that you incur when you undertake a work-related course to obtain a formal qualification from a school, college, university or other place of education.

The course must have a sufficient connection to your current employment, that is, the course:

* maintains or improves the specific skills or knowledge you require in your current employment, or
* results in, or is likely to result in, an increase in your income from your current employment.

You cannot claim a deduction for self-education expenses for a course that does not have a sufficient connection to your current employment even though:

Which kind leads me to think no?
Is this correct?
Are there other ways to claim the cost of attending/completing an investment course?

 

Self education has to be connected with an existing income producing activity - it is not restricted to employment.

Where you can show a connection between the investment course and your current investment income activity then you would have the connection.

However, the course could be too remote where, say, someone with a passive share portfolio and a couple of IPs then enrolled on an intensive day trader course in the hope of branching out into a new career/occupation. The ATO could argue this was preliminary expenditure in equipping yourself for a new activity.

Ongoing investment seminar expenses discussing market summaries would be a typical self-education expense of a passive investor.

This could include travel, and even food where an overnight stay is required.

Cheers,

Rob

 

Length of time

Thanks Rob

Does it matter how long in advanced you were involved in the investment.
For example if I had a share portfolio and wanted to branch out in CFD's. Could I buy a couple of CFD's and then a week or two later enroll in a course to learn about CFD trading and claim it as an expense?

Nige

 

The main problem is to convince the ATO that you have an income producing activity where CFDs are concerned.

see http://www.invested.com.au/4/tax-cfds-34503/#post60873

Where you are more actively involved in a range of investments such a day trading or more speculative transactions, and CFDs are merely a new aspect, then you could enrol on a course prior to starting to trade in CFDs.

I was just warning that if this was a dramatic change in activity, the ATO could argue it is startup costs for a NEW income source.

A couple of seminars would be pretty benign, but to attend an intensive diploma course at an institution after merely holding a couple of long term shares would be questionable.

This is assuming that you are not starting up a business of trading.

Cheers,

Rob