Income Tax Act 1947 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 9 · Ascertainment of Assessable Income
37C. Transfer of qualifying deduction between spouses
Feedback & supportLast amended by an amending law of 2014.
Subject to the provisions of this section, an individual may transfer any qualifying deduction for any year of assessment to a spouse living with him or her who has claimed the qualifying deduction against her or his assessable income for the same year of assessment.
year of assessment
“year of assessment” means the period of 12 months commencing on 1 January 1948, and each subsequent period of 12 months.
No transfer may be made under subsection (1) of —
any allowance made to the individual for the year of assessment 2016 or a subsequent year of assessment;
any loss incurred by the individual in the basis period for the year of assessment 2016 or a subsequent year of assessment; or
any donation made by the individual in the year immediately preceding the year of assessment 2016 or a subsequent year of assessment.
No transfer of any qualifying deduction under subsection (1) may be made for the year of assessment 2018 or any subsequent year of assessment.
Qualifying deductions are to be transferred to a claimant spouse in the following order:
any allowance specified in subsection (8)(a);
any loss specified in subsection (8)(b);
any donation specified in subsection (8)(c).
For each type of qualifying deduction to be transferred in the order specified in subsection (2), any allowance, loss or donation (as the case may be) arising to the transferor in an earlier year of assessment is to be transferred first before any allowance, loss or donation arising to the transferor in a later year of assessment.
The amount of qualifying deduction to be transferred by a transferor to a claimant spouse is the lower of —
the amount of qualifying deduction available for transfer; and
the assessable income of the claimant spouse.
Any individual transferring or claiming a qualifying deduction under this section must notify the Comptroller and make an election to transfer or claim qualifying deductions (as the case may be) not later than 30 days from the date of the service of the notice of assessment on the individual or his or her spouse, whichever is the later.
Comptroller
“Comptroller” means the Comptroller of Income Tax appointed under section 3(1) and includes, for all purposes of this Act except the exercise of the powers conferred upon the Comptroller by sections 34F(9), 37L(7), 37M(5), 67(1)(a), 95, 96, 96A and 101, a Deputy Comptroller or an Assistant Comptroller so appointed;
An election made by an individual under subsection (5) is irrevocable unless the Comptroller otherwise allows and must be accompanied by such particulars as the Comptroller may require.
Where the Comptroller discovers that any transfer or claim of qualifying deduction which has been made from or to any individual is or has become excessive, the Comptroller may make an assessment upon that individual under section 74 on the amount which, in the Comptroller’s opinion, ought to have been charged to tax.
For the purposes of this section, subject to sections 35 and 37, qualifying deductions, in relation to an individual, for each year of assessment, are —
any allowance falling to be made under section 16, 17, 18B, 18C, 19, 19A, 19C, 19D or 20 that is in excess of the individual’s income from all sources chargeable with tax for that year of assessment;
any loss incurred by the individual in any trade, business, profession or vocation which, if it had been a profit, would have been assessable under this Act, and which is not deducted for that year of assessment because of insufficiency of statutory income of the individual; and
any donation made by the individual under section 37(3)(b), (c), (e) or (f) that is not deducted for that year of assessment because of insufficiency of statutory income of the individual.[37D