Course Fees Relief is given to encourage individuals to continuously upgrade their skills and enhance their employability. CFR is targeted at those who are currently employed or who have been employed previously. For the purpose of this relief vocation jobs or internships are not considered as employment.
You can claim relief for the Year of Assessment (YA) 2016 on the course fees paid in 2015 for:
You can claim the actual course fees incurred by yourself up to a maximum of $5,500 each year regardless of the number of courses, seminars or conferences you have attended.
You can claim only the portion of course fees, which you paid. Any amount paid or reimbursed by your employer or any other organisation cannot be claimed.
You may claim the following types of fees:
If you are a photographer and you attended a two-day workshop on picture editing, which costs $1,800. Your employer subsidised 75% of the cost of the workshop. You can claim the relief as follows:
Workshop Fees | $1,800 |
Workshop Fees Subsidised by Employer | $1,350 (75% X $1,800) |
Workshop Fees Paid by Employee | $ 450 (25% X $1,500) |
You may claim | $ 450 |
For courses that span a number of years and where full payment has been made upfront, you may divide the course fees paid equally over the years.
If you paid $15,000 for a three-year course in 2015, you can claim the relief as follows:
Course Fees Paid in Full in 2015 | $15,000 |
Claim in YA 2016 | $5,000 |
Claim in YA 2017 | $5,000 |
Claim in YA 2018 | $5,000 |
You can defer your claim for Course Fee Relief if your assessable income is $22,000 or below in YA 2016 and you have studied the course, or attended the seminar or conference in 2015. You must claim:
Ms Lee is a beautician and takes up a part-time vocational course in catering. Her course begins on 1 July 2011 and ends on 30 May 2013.
She continues working as a beautician after the course is completed. Her annual assessable income, course fee expenditure and amount of Course Fees Relief are as follows:
Year | Year of Assessment (YA) | Annual Assessable Income | Course Fees Paid | Course Fees Relief |
2011 | 2012 | $18,000 | $2,500 | Deferred |
2012 | 2013 | $19,000 | $1,500 | Deferred |
2013 | 2014 | $20,000 | $2,000 | Deferred |
2014 | 2015 | $21,750 | Nil | Deferred |
2015 | 2016 | $23,000 | Nil | $5,500 |
Ms Lee is allowed to defer her claim on Course Fees Relief since her assessable income for YA 2012 to YA 2014 (i.e. during the course duration) did not exceed $22,000. She is allowed to defer her claim to YA 2015 or YA 2016.
However, as her income did not exceed $22,000 in YA 2015, she can claim the relief in YA 2016.
In YA 2016, she is entitled to claim a relief of $5,500, even though she has incurred $6,000 on course fee. This is because when a taxpayer defers a claim in Course Fees Relief, it can only be claimed once, with a maximum allowable relief of $5,500.
Mr Lin is an IT programmer. In 2012, he resigned from his company and took a two-year Masters course in IT programming Management.
After completing his first year, he deferred his course for a year and in 2013, worked full time. He resumed his full time studies in 2014.
On completing his course in 2015, he was again employed by his former employer. His annual assessable income, course fee expenditure and amount of Course Fees Relief are as follows:
Year | Year of Assessment (YA) | Annual Assessable Income | Course Fees Paid | Course Fees Relief |
2012 | 2013 | $15,000 | $5,000 | Deferred |
2013 | 2014 | $40,000 | Nil | $5,000 |
2014 | 2015 | Nil | $4,000 | Deferred |
2015 | 2016 | $50,000 | Nil | $4,000 |
In YA 2014, Mr Lin must claim the relief for course fees of $5,000 incurred in 2012 as his income exceeded $22,000 in YA 2014.
Similarly, in YA 2016, he has to claim the relief on course fees of $4,000 incurred in 2014 as his income has exceeded $22,000 in YA 2016.