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WHAT ARE THE SPECIAL RULES TO CLAIM DEDUCTIONS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ACTIVITIES?

It is our civic duty to care about the environment we live in. Thus, Australian Taxation Office (ATO) acknowledges that and encourages the citizens by offering deductions on expenditure related to environmental protection activities (EPA). These are activities which include preventing pollution and also engaging in recycle or reuse of wastages. These activities are undertaken from your earning activity or a site on which you are carrying on a business from your predecessor.

Earning activities are defined as those carried on for the following purposes: 

• Producing assessable income;
• Exploration or prospecting;
• Mining site rehabilitation.

There are some deductions you are not entitled to. These are:

• EPA bonds and security deposits;
• Expenditure of buying a land; 
• Expenditure related to development of property; 
• Expenditure arising on an environment assessment of a project. However, if this expense is a capital expense and it is directly related with the project then it is deductible over the project life.