The key point here is the third one. So, if you’re a uni student being funded to do a Masters or PhD, your grant is tax-exempt. If you’re like me, and you’re upskilling independently, tax does need to be paid for it.
That said, this took me almost no time and could have potentially saved the LTFF tens of thousands of dollars, so this was a very high EV thing to check.
That’s excellent advice! I just looked up Australia specifically (https://​​www.ato.gov.au/​​Individuals/​​Income-and-deductions/​​In-detail/​​Income/​​Scholarship-payments-and-tax) and it appears that:
For a scholarship payment to be exempt income it can’t:
be an excluded government payment (Austudy, Youth Allowance or ABSTUDY)
come with a requirement for you to do work (either as an employee or contract for labour, now or in the future).
You must also meet both of the following conditions:
you are a full-time student at a school, college or university
the scholarship is provided to you principally for educational purposes
The key point here is the third one. So, if you’re a uni student being funded to do a Masters or PhD, your grant is tax-exempt. If you’re like me, and you’re upskilling independently, tax does need to be paid for it.
That said, this took me almost no time and could have potentially saved the LTFF tens of thousands of dollars, so this was a very high EV thing to check.