This section is about expenses you incurred in earning any income included in the Dividends section. You must also complete this section if you had a listed investment company (LIC) capital gain amount in your dividends.
Your expenses may include:
- management fees and fees for investment advice relating to changes in the mix of your investments
- interest charged on money borrowed to purchase shares or similar investments
- costs relating to managing your investments, such as travel and buying specialist investment journals or subscriptions.
If you had any joint share investments or similar investments, show only your share of joint expenses. This will be half if you held the investment equally with one other person. Keep a record of how you worked out your proportion if you and the other investors did not share the expenses equally.
If you borrowed money to purchase assets for your private use and income-producing investments, you can claim only the portion of the interest expenses relating to the income-producing investments.
Interest on investments under a capital protected borrowing may not be fully deductible. For more information, see Capital protected products and borrowings
You can claim a proportion of the decline in value of your computer based on the percentage of your total computer use that related to managing your investments. If you used your computer to manage your investment in both interest-earning investments and investments in shares or similar securities, then you can claim only the proportion of the decline in value related to managing those investments once. You claim the amount in either Interest deductions or Dividend deductions section.
If you were an Australian resident when a LIC paid you a dividend and the dividend included a LIC capital gain amount, you can claim a deduction of 50% of the LIC capital gain amount. The LIC capital gain amount will be shown separately on your dividend statement.
If you incurred particular types of expenses, such as interest on borrowed money, relating to certain overseas investments (or investments in Australia if you were a foreign resident) your claims may be affected by the thin capitalisation rules. These rules may apply if the total of your debt deductions and those of your associates is more than $2 million for 2017-18. For more information, see Thin capitalisation - how the rules work.
Depreciation and capital allowances tool
You can use the Depreciation and capital allowances tool to work out any deductible decline in value. To access the tool, select the 'Work it out' link in the Deductions section on the Prepare return screen.
Do not show at this section
Do not show the following expenses at this section:
- Any expenses incurred in earning trust and partnership distributions. Show these at Partnerships or Trusts in the Business/sole trader, partnership and trust income (including loss details) section.
- Expenses incurred in earning foreign source dividends. They are taken into account at Other foreign income in the Foreign income, assets and entities section or at Other deductions in the Deductions sections.
- Expenses you were charged for drawing up an investment plan unless you were carrying on an investment business, in which case you would claim any expenses at Business income or losses in the Business/sole trader, partnership and trust income (including loss details) section.
If you can't see these sections, use the Personalise return screen to select those sections that apply to you. For further help with personalising your return, read How to personalise your return.
Completing this section
You will need your dividend statements showing any LIC capital gain amount. Show dividends received from a LIC in the Dividends section.
- For each dividend deduction expense, select Add and enter information into the corresponding fields.
- Select Save.
- Select Save and continue.
Note: If you used the Depreciation and capital allowances tool, fields containing information from the tool cannot be directly adjusted in myTax. To make any adjustments to this information, or to add new assets to the tool, select Work it out.
See also:
- You and your shares
- Guide to depreciating assets if you are claiming a deduction for the decline in value of your computer.