School holidays come around fast, and for working parents they usually mean the same juggle: book a holiday program, pay the invoice, and get back to work knowing the kids are looked after. It seems fair to assume that cost should count as a work expense at tax time. It does not, and the reason comes down to how the ATO defines what a deduction actually is.
If you are booking vacation care or a holiday program for the first time, it is worth knowing this upfront, so you are not caught out expecting a deduction that was never on the table.
Why Holiday Programs Are Not Deductible
The Australian Taxation Office treats school holiday programs, vacation care and outside school hours care as child care, not education. Child care is classed as a private expense, which means it is not directly connected to earning your income, even when the whole reason you booked it was so you could go to work.
The ATO’s own guidance on child care, school fees and other child education expenses states plainly that you cannot claim a deduction for the cost of child care or before and after school care, because it is a private expense not directly connected with earning employment income. Child care expenses put you in a position to earn your income; they are not treated as a cost of earning it. It is the same reasoning applied to school fees, laptops and other education costs for your children. None of it is deductible, regardless of how necessary it feels.
This applies no matter who runs the program, whether it is through the school itself, a council, or a private provider. The tax treatment comes down to the nature of the expense, not the organisation delivering it.
What You Can Claim Instead
There is no deduction, but there are two ongoing supports worth checking before you book your next program.
Child Care Subsidy (CCS)
If the program runs through an approved provider, which most formal vacation care and OSHC services are, you may be eligible for CCS. It is paid directly to the provider and reduces your fees on the spot. Many parents assume CCS stops once school starts, but Services Australia has confirmed that children under 14 who are not yet in secondary school can still be eligible for CCS for vacation care and before and after school care, not just early childhood care. You can apply up to six months before your child starts, so it is worth sorting out ahead of the next school holidays rather than during them.
Family Tax Benefit (FTB)
Depending on your household income and family situation, you may also be eligible for FTB Part A or Part B. It is not specific to holiday programs, but it helps with the wider cost of raising children and can take some pressure off the same budget.
The quickest way to check both is to log into myGov, link Centrelink, and run the payment estimator before you book. It takes a few minutes and is the closest thing to getting money back that actually exists for holiday care.
A Note for Tax Time
If you do have genuine work-related education expenses elsewhere, such as professional development or industry training, keep every receipt and invoice. The ATO has flagged work-related expense claims as an area of focus this tax season, so anything you claim needs to be clearly connected to your income-earning activities and properly documented.
The Bottom Line
Holiday programs sit in the private expense category as far as the ATO is concerned, no matter how much they function as the price of staying employed during the school holidays. You cannot deduct them. What you can do is check your eligibility for Child Care Subsidy and Family Tax Benefit before the next round of holidays, since that is where the real savings are sitting.
This article is general information only and does not take into account your personal financial situation. For advice specific to your circumstances, speak with a registered tax agent, or check the ATO and Services Australia websites directly.