Tax questions about institute fees

I suppose its that time of year and there will be lots of questions. I have searched the net for this info but cant find it.

As a teacher it is compulsory for me to be part of the Institute of Teachers NSW. This has an annual compulsory fee that I can claim back ont tax.

My question is can I only claim the fee due for the last financial year or everything I paid the institute in the last financial year. I had a few years overdue so made a massive payment during the last financial year.

The reason why I had to pay about 4 years worth of the fee was because I only just finished my professional training with the institute at teh end of last calendar year (it took a few years to get round to doing after uni) and didnt realise I had to pay the fee as I wasnt technically qualified so they backdated the invoice to include 4 years worth.

Thanks to anyone that can help me.

I am an accountant so I can answer this for you.

You claim your expenses in the year you paid them, even though they were incurred for previous years. Therefore you can claim the whole amount in your 2010 tax return. The reason for this is because individuals incur expenditure on a 'cash basis', rather than 'accruals basis' which is the method most businesses use.

That being said, you can only claim these fees IF you earnt assessable income as a teacher at some point in the same period. This means that you had to actually earn income from teaching at any point during 1/7/09-30/6/10. If you did, then you most certainly should claim the whole amount.

If you want further information, the ATO website has useful information about what you can claim and when you can claim it in the section called 'other work related expenses'.

I hope this helps

Diamond Girl- Thank you so much for your reply. I am sure this is a busy time of year for you!
That is great news for me as its about $350 worth of fees I paid in the last financial year and I have been teaching during that time.
Thanks again :)