I am a medical professional who is not employed currently as I am medically unfit for work and receiving sickness benefit from income protection payment (this is my current income source and I have not been able to work for three years and likely to not have work capacity for another year or so). Can I still claim the cost of professional registration (registered as a non-practising health professional) and professional indemnity insurance and continuing education costs, as I hope to return to work in the near future and these are needed to maintain my professional standing / knowledge and insure against any future claims against me for past practice (with regards to professional indemnity insurance). Also can I claim membership to a professional body who provides continuing education as this also maintains my professional knowledge. My accountant said I can only claim $42 of the cost. I don't feel this is correct, as I am not working due to sickness not by choice and am paying tax in the sickness benefit "income" I am receiving. To practice in my medical profession you are required to pay yearly registration fees to AHPRA and have professional indemnity insurance and complete a certain number of points worth of continuing education to be able to register and practice as the health professional I have a university degree in.
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1 replies
Hi @Rxaw,
We don't have a tonne of information readily available about income protection payments. Generally, you can only claim the expenses if they directly relate to you making income currently. So it's unlikely you can claim a deduction for something that will help you earn your income in the future. But you could claim deductions for the cost of the insurance premium for example. We have a thread about what you can claim on income protection if you'd like to have a read.
If you'd like a more definitive answer it would be best to seek tailored technical advice so we can look at all the factors.
All replies
Hi @Rxaw,
We don't have a tonne of information readily available about income protection payments. Generally, you can only claim the expenses if they directly relate to you making income currently. So it's unlikely you can claim a deduction for something that will help you earn your income in the future. But you could claim deductions for the cost of the insurance premium for example. We have a thread about what you can claim on income protection if you'd like to have a read.
If you'd like a more definitive answer it would be best to seek tailored technical advice so we can look at all the factors.
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