Claiming a MECIR on Tax
 

Can anyone help me out here regarding the rules etc:. about putting a claim in for me MECIR training.

Can I claim the whole 16K?
If i am working part time on call for a charter company and need it for some of the charters can I claim it?

Do i need a special aviation accountant?

Any help would be great....please feel free to PM me or reply here.

Kind regards RedT7

employed at the time
 

I can't help you out much but I know for claiming anything back on tax it has to be a work related expense (needed for you to perform your job) or an expense that betters your skills in your current job/employment.

A large claim like that is most likely going to draw some attention from the ATO. Best to check with an accountant. However, if you are not emplyed as a pilot, or at least in a company that is going to get you to do some flying then don't claim it.

As for whether you can claim the lot or not (if the above requirements are met) I'm not sure.

Bort.

tax
 

It Should be OK, if you can claim it without a smile on your face then go for it!

Both parents working at the tax office makes this particular part of life by the book and depressing. Despite the CIR/ME being a requirement of the TAFE course I did (and hence meant to be tax free and a lot of the flying was while paying TAFE and TAFE paying the flying school) and working for an operator at the time, Dad jumped up and down and had a hissy fit and made me get a private ruling on the matter. After a long drawn out process the verbal ruling was a no I couldn't claim it. :eek:

I'm sure I could have argued it and asked for a second opinion, and Mum suggested I do that especially given the points they broke with regards to the Tax Payers Charter, but after 5 months, claiming $1300 of GST just didn't seem worth the hassle, stress or the time involved.

So my advice... if you have parents who work for the ATO, especially those who like to micromanage, do not under any circumstances tell them you are training to be a pilot. Do not under any circumstances tell them you are doing a CIR/ME. Move interstate and do not mention your day job. :)

If they don't work for the ATO, find one scape goat who agrees with you - even if its a "I think so, but you need to get a private ruling", record their name, number and the time you called. Keep your eyes closed and hope you never hear about it again. Oh and consider yourself lucky you don't fall in to the first category. :)

*sighs and wishes just once he could get some money out of one of the government's many free money schemes rather than paying way more tax than anyone on the same pay bracket would have to pay because parents won't let him claim a single thing based on every single technicality they can find under the sun*

Perhaps you could do your tax the way you want to, and stop discussing it with your parents...

I forgot to mention, don't let them visit you while you're interstate.

No discussion until I got home from work that day. :mad:

You'll just have to convince them you work in recycleable aluminium.

If you are working in the industry as a pilot I thought the MCIR is a deduction? :suspect:

Doesn't it fall under further education? I'd suggest that kalavo go get a second opinion on that private ruling.

Hang on a moment peeps, two different types of tax are being discussed...

As posted above, if you are working and the MECIR will improve your skills with your current employer, you can claim it. Check the ATO website under 'airline pilots' for details (covers all pilots). I have done so, accountant okayed it, and three years later still haven't heard anything from the ATO (but i'm still hanging on to receipts just in case). Nice little $4000 bonus it was.

Paying GST during training is a totally different kettle of fish all together. If it is part of a 150hr CPL course, then you don't have to pay GST. If you have a CPL or are doing the 200hr CPL course you need to pay GST. I have seen two pilots ask for a private ruling on this and both didn't come back in their favour.

Red777

I actually took the ATO to court in the early 90’s for a similar case except it was for an instructors rating. What they didn’t realise at the time was that I was an accountant in my previous life before becoming a pilot. I won the case. In essence the ruling was if you earned $1.00 of assessable income in that financial year as a pilot, the instructors rating was 100% deductible. There is no difference legally for a MECIR in this ruling. Oh and by the way it is Self Education Deductions not Work Related Expenses Deduction that it is claimed under.

kalavo

I'm not exactly sure what you are getting at here? Were you working as a pilot in that financial year and earned assessable income as a pilot prior to doing the course? If no it isn’t deductible.

Neville, the rule, as I understand it, is that any self education expenses can only be claimed against tax if it is required for your current job with your current employer. With that in mind, it may be possible to claim it if you need it to perform charters for your current employer, but not possible if you are doing it to get a new job.

As others have said, because it is quite a large amount, you'd need to make sure you can back it up, or make sure you keep the tax refund in a bank account for five years in case you get audited [and lose the fight].

There is really nothing to stop you from claiming it, it's just a matter of how comfortable you'll feel if you get a tax audit.

Here's the document:

http://www.ato.gov.au/content/downloads/NAT2331_07.pdf