I pay school fees. My school has told me that I can pay the entire amount of school fees to the building fund and this would be tax deductible. Is this correct?
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From ATO
"A school building fund is solely for providing money to acquire, construct or maintain a building used, or to be used, as a school by a qualifying body. It cannot be used for any other purpose."
School building funds | Australian Taxation Office
If the fees are for this purpose and it is a voluntary payment then that would be correct. (i.e needs to be a gift or donation)
That doesn't sound right to me. Donations to a properly established school building fund are tax deductible, but they have to be voluntary donations, not a compulsory levy. Simply paying your school fees (a committed, compulsory obligation) wouldn't meet that requirement. If the school fees come with a "suggested" building fund donation as a separate line item, that can be deducted (if its voluntary - ie, does it drop off the school fees account if you don't pay it after a few terms?) but not the main fees.
Hi @Umdoineedone,
Just to build on the points already shared, school fees themselves aren’t tax deductible, even if they're paid to a building fund instead of being paid as standard fees.
Based on what you've shared, the payment isn't a genuine gift.
You can claim a deduction for a donation to a school building fund only if both of these conditions are met:
- the school building fund is endorsed as a deductible gift recipient, and
- your payment is a genuine gift (made voluntarily without receiving any benefit in return).
If the payment is being made instead of school fees, or to secure something like enrolment or priority access it wouldn’t be considered a genuine gift and wouldn’t be deductible.
School fees themselves aren’t deductible, as they're considered private expenses and not related to earning your income.
It may also be helpful to confirm with your school whether their building fund is endorsed as a deductible gift recipient and whether the payment is truly optional.
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