Education is GST-free in Australia only when it's an "education course" as the GST law defines one: a list of ten course types: pre-school, primary and secondary courses, tertiary courses (degrees and accredited VET qualifications), special education, adult and community education, English language courses for overseas students, first aid or life saving courses, professional or trade courses, and tertiary residential college courses: supplied by the course provider, along with its course materials, directly related administrative services and curriculum-related excursions. Childcare is GST-free when an approved child care service supplies it: long day care, family day care, outside school hours care, and the Child Care Subsidy is just a co-payment toward the same GST-free fee. Everything outside those doors carries 10% GST once the provider is registered: private tutoring, hobby and recreational classes, CPD for people already in a profession, conferences, uniforms and canteen food. And because GST-free fees count toward the $75,000 registration threshold, an entirely GST-free provider can still be required to register.
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The list: what counts as an "education course".
The GST Act doesn't exempt "education", it exempts a defined education course, and a supply is GST-free only if it's actually one of the ten types on the list:
| Course type | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Pre-school, primary, secondary | Kinder and school education delivered by a school: including secondary courses at TAFEs and registered training organisations |
| Tertiary | Courses determined under the Student Assistance Act: degrees and accredited VET qualifications delivered by universities, higher education providers and RTOs, plus Masters and Doctoral courses of higher education institutions |
| Special education | Courses designed specifically for children or students with disabilities |
| Adult and community education (ACE) | Short courses by recognised providers that are likely to add to employment-related skills: see below |
| English language courses for overseas students (ELICOS) | English study supplied by an accredited provider |
| First aid or life saving | Training principally in first aid, resuscitation or similar life saving skills, by a provider registered or approved to run them |
| Professional or trade | Courses leading to an essential prerequisite qualification for entering a profession or trade: see below |
| Tertiary residential college | Certain courses supplied in connection with tertiary study at residential colleges |
Two things follow from the list. First, the supplier matters: the GST-free treatment attaches to the course as supplied by its provider: the school, the university, the RTO, the recognised ACE body. Second, the label doesn't: a "course", "masterclass", "bootcamp" or "workshop" that isn't one of the ten types is an ordinary taxable sale, however educational it feels. Corporate training bought by an employer, conferences and seminars, and online course products sold to the public generally sit outside the list and carry GST once the seller is registered.
Professional and trade courses: the "essential prerequisite" test.
This is the door most private trainers hope to walk through, and it's narrower than it looks. A course is a GST-free professional or trade course only if it leads to a qualification that is an essential prerequisite for entry to, or to commence the practice of, a particular profession or trade in Australia. "Essential" has a statutory meaning: the qualification must be imposed by or under a law (or an industrial instrument), or by a professional or trade association at national level, or, where the association operates state-by-state, at state level.
| Course | GST treatment |
|---|---|
| Course leading to a licence or qualification the law requires before you can start work in the occupation | GST-free: an essential prerequisite imposed by law |
| Qualification a professional or trade association requires nationally before admission to the profession | GST-free: essential prerequisite imposed by the association |
| CPD, refreshers, licence renewals, anything required to maintain a practice you're already in | Taxable: the definition covers entry and commencement only, not staying in |
| Courses that improve your prospects but aren't legally or professionally required | Taxable: helpful isn't essential |
The line the ATO draws in GSTR 2003/1 is between getting in and staying in: a course for people entering a trade can be GST-free, while the same provider's upskilling course for people already working in it is taxable. Note the overlap with the tertiary door: an accredited VET qualification delivered by an RTO can be GST-free as a tertiary course even where the professional-or-trade test would fail, which is why formal accreditation matters so much to a training business's pricing.
ACE courses: employment skills yes, hobbies no.
Community colleges and adult education providers get their own door: an adult and community education course is GST-free when a recognised ACE provider supplies a course that is likely to add to the employment-related skills of the people taking it. The ATO reads that test practically: the course should:
1. Specify the employment-related skills participants will acquire in its objectives.
2. Set out, before the course begins, how participants will learn those skills.
3. Teach skills reasonably likely to be used at work or in a business, occupation, profession or trade, not for a hobby or recreation.
Hobby and recreational courses fail the test by design. A bookkeeping, first-line-management or trades-adjacent short course at a community college can be GST-free; pottery for pleasure, social dance and general-interest classes are taxable once the provider is registered: whoever runs them. Providers running both kinds need to code enrolments course by course, exactly like a clinic mixing GST-free physio with taxable massage.
What travels with a GST-free course, and what doesn't.
A GST-free course carries some of its surroundings with it, but not the school shop:
| Supply | GST treatment |
|---|---|
| Course materials the provider supplies for the course (printed notes, consumables used in class) | GST-free, when supplied by the course provider and used or consumed doing the course |
| Administrative services directly related to the course (enrolment, assessment), charged by the course provider | GST-free |
| Excursions and field trips directly related to the curriculum, not predominantly recreational | GST-free, but any food supplied is taxable, and accommodation is GST-free only on school-level trips, not tertiary or trade course travel |
| Textbooks and stationery sold separately | Taxable: ordinary retail sales, even at the school shop |
| Uniforms, canteen food | Taxable: GST in the price like any other seller's |
| Private tuition supplied by someone other than the course provider | Taxable: see below |
Private tutoring is the trap in this table. The exemption belongs to the education course supplied by its provider, and a tutor coaching a student through a school subject isn't supplying the school's course. The ATO's ruling on school education spells it out with a music teacher as the worked example: a GST-registered teacher giving private lessons to school students is making a taxable supply, and it makes no difference whether the lessons happen in a school building or the teacher's own studio. Most sole-trader tutors charge no GST simply because they're under the $75,000 threshold and unregistered, which is the threshold at work, not an education exemption.
Childcare: GST-free through the approval system.
Childcare has its own subdivision of the GST Act, and the door is the family assistance approval system, not the nature of the care:
| Care | GST treatment |
|---|---|
| Long day care, family day care, outside school hours care, vacation care supplied by an approved child care service (CCS-approved provider) | GST-free: including excursions directly related to the care |
| The Child Care Subsidy portion of the fee | GST-free: the ATO treats CCS as a co-payment toward the same GST-free supply, so neither the subsidy nor the parent's gap fee carries GST |
| Certain Commonwealth-funded care outside the approval system, covered by the Minister's determination | GST-free: a narrow, determination-by-determination category |
| Supplies directly related to GST-free care, by the same supplier | GST-free: unrelated extras must be split out and carry GST |
| Private nannies, babysitters, au pairs: care with no approval or funding hook | Taxable once the carer is GST registered (most individuals never cross the threshold) |
For an approved service the practical position is simple: care fees carry no GST, and the CCS changes nothing: the subsidy is paid to the provider on the parent's behalf and passed on as a fee reduction, all inside the one GST-free supply. The edge to watch is the directly related test on extras: a levy or charge that's genuinely part of supplying the care rides on the exemption, while components that aren't, and anything sold to parents beyond the care itself, must be apportioned and carry GST.
The registration trap: GST-free still counts toward $75,000.
The same surprise that catches GST-free health practices catches education and care providers: GST turnover includes GST-free sales, only input-taxed supplies are left out. An RTO billing $200,000 of accredited course fees, a tutoring college mixing taxable tuition with a GST-free first aid line, or a family day care educator clearing $75,000 ($150,000 for a not-for-profit community college) must register for GST within 21 days of becoming aware they'll cross the line, even if registration won't add a cent of GST to a single invoice.
Registration usually works for a GST-free provider: you add nothing to GST-free fees but claim full GST credits on rent, equipment, software and insurance, so the quarterly BAS often pays a refund. The providers that need care are mixed ones: a college running GST-free accredited diplomas alongside taxable short courses, or a centre selling merchandise beside GST-free care, must code every fee line correctly, because charging 10% on a GST-free enrolment overstates GST owed and leaving it off a taxable workshop understates it. Both end in BAS corrections.
Quick answers.
Is there GST on course fees in Australia?
Only if the course isn't an 'education course' as the GST law defines one. The GST Act lists ten course types that are GST-free: pre-school, primary and secondary courses, tertiary courses (degrees and accredited VET qualifications), special education courses, adult and community education courses, English language courses for overseas students, first aid or life saving courses, professional or trade courses, and tertiary residential college courses. A course on that list, supplied by the course provider, carries no GST. Anything outside the list: hobby classes, most corporate training, conferences, private tutoring, is an ordinary taxable sale once the provider is registered for GST.
Are training courses GST-free?
It depends on what the course leads to. A professional or trade course is GST-free only if it leads to a qualification that is an essential prerequisite for entry to, or to commence the practice of, a particular profession or trade in Australia: essential meaning the qualification is imposed by law, an industrial instrument, or a professional or trade association at national or state level. A course that merely improves your prospects, or maintains a practice you're already in: CPD, refreshers, upskilling short courses, is not an essential prerequisite and is taxable. Accredited VET qualifications delivered by an RTO can also be GST-free as tertiary courses.
Is private tutoring subject to GST?
Generally yes, once the tutor is registered for GST. The GST-free treatment attaches to an education course supplied by the course provider: the school, university or RTO, and private tuition supplied by someone other than that provider isn't part of the course. The ATO's school-education ruling uses a music teacher as the worked example: a GST-registered teacher giving private lessons to school students makes a taxable supply, whether the lessons happen on school grounds or in the teacher's own studio. Most sole-trader tutors under $75,000 turnover simply aren't registered, which is why no GST appears: that's the threshold, not an exemption.
Are hobby and recreational courses GST-free?
No. The adult and community education (ACE) door only opens for a course that is likely to add to the employment-related skills of the people taking it, supplied by a recognised ACE provider. The ATO expects the course objectives to specify the employment-related skills participants will acquire, set out before the course starts how they'll be learnt, and teach skills reasonably likely to be used at work or in a business, occupation, profession or trade, not for a hobby or recreation. A bookkeeping short course at a community college can qualify; a pottery-for-pleasure or social dance class can't, and is taxable once the provider is GST registered.
Is childcare GST-free?
Yes, when an approved child care service under the family assistance law supplies it: long day care, family day care, outside school hours care and vacation care run by CCS-approved providers all charge no GST on care fees, and excursions directly related to that care are GST-free too. The Child Care Subsidy doesn't change this: the ATO treats CCS as a co-payment toward the same GST-free supply, so neither the subsidy nor the parent's gap fee carries GST. Care that sits outside the approval system: a private nanny or babysitter, is a taxable supply once the carer is GST registered, though most individual carers never cross the $75,000 threshold.
Do I charge GST on course materials, textbooks or uniforms?
Course materials are GST-free when the course provider supplies them for a GST-free course and students use or consume them doing it: printed course notes, art supplies consumed in class, exam materials. Administrative services like enrolment and assessment fees are GST-free when the course provider charges them for a GST-free course. But goods that outlive the course or come from someone else are ordinary taxable sales: textbooks sold separately, stationery, uniforms and canteen food all carry 10% GST even when a school sells them. Curriculum-related excursions are GST-free if not predominantly recreational, though the food component is always taxable, and accommodation is only GST-free on school-level trips, not tertiary or trade course travel.
Do I need to register for GST if my courses or care fees are GST-free?
Quite possibly. GST turnover includes GST-free sales, only input-taxed supplies are excluded, so an RTO, tutoring college or family day care educator with more than $75,000 of entirely GST-free fees ($150,000 for a not-for-profit) must register within 21 days of becoming aware they'll cross the line. Registration usually works in your favour: you add no GST to GST-free fees but claim back the GST on rent, equipment, software and insurance, so the BAS often pays a refund. Our BAS-agent service is $119 + GST if you'd rather have it reviewed and lodged for you, with backdating up to 4 years +$25 + GST.
Related guides: GST-free supplies · GST on health and medical services · When to charge GST · GST for not-for-profits · Crossing the $75,000 threshold · How GST credits work · What is a BAS?
Fees crossing $75,000? Registered in ~4 business hours.
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