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Are expenses incurred on a sports massage by a taxpayer employed as a casual aerobics instructor, an allowable deduction under section 8-1 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (ITAA 1997)?

No. Expenses incurred on a sports massage are not an allowable deduction under section 8-1 of the ITAA 1997 as they are private or domestic in nature.

The taxpayer is employed as a casual aerobics instructor.

The taxpayer used regular sports massages as part of a program to maintain a high standard of general fitness.

Section 8-1 of the ITAA 1997 allows a deduction for all losses and outgoings to the extent to which they are incurred in gaining or producing assessable income except where the outgoings are of a capital, private or domestic nature.

Generally, expenses incurred in the maintenance of physical fitness and well being are not deductible as they are private and domestic expenditure. Fitness related expenses are deductible where a taxpayer is required to maintain a very high level of fitness, well above the profession's general standard. For example, in Taxation Ruling TR 95/17, the Commissioner of Taxation states at paragraphs 119 and 119A that an infantryman in Australian Defence Force will be denied a fitness related expense. In contrast, a member of the Special Air Services Regiment (SAS) will be allowed a fitness related expense. The rationale being that the SAS member is paid to maintain a very high level of fitness.

In FC of T v. Cooper (1991) 21 ATR 1616; 91 ATC 4396, Hill J stated that (ATR 1636; ATC 4414): 'the fact that the employee is required, as a term of his employment, to incur a particular expenditure does not convert expenditure that is not incurred in the course of income-producing operations into a deductible outgoing.'

The taxpayer's sports massage expenses are part of a program to maintain a general standard of fitness as opposed to maintaining a very high level of fitness. Expenditure to maintain a general standard of fitness is expenditure that is private or domestic in nature and is therefore not an allowable deduction under section 8-1 of the ITAA 1997.