Claiming tax deductions for the cost of an author website

If you’re an Australian writer planning to buy an author website before June 30, 2021, or have bought one this financial year (July 1, 2020 – June 30, 2021), then you may be able to claim a tax deduction for the full cost of the website, as well as ongoing fees for maintaining it, such as the cost of your domain name and hosting.

In this article, I summarise the eligibility requirements for claiming the deduction, and what exactly you can claim. For the full information on eligibility and the claim threshold, click here to go to the Australian Tax Office’s official article.

These days being an author is being a business

Promotion of a book is partially handled by the publisher, but the promotion of the author is the sole responsibility of the author – strategically, practically and financially.

And the most powerful tool you’ll have to promote your business is a website.

With June 30 fast approaching, it’s that time of year again, the end of the financial year and the dreaded tax return.

But with current generous Australian tax laws in place, you can now get an immediate tax deduction for the entire cost buying an author website, or for the ongoing maintenance.

Here are some things to remember about claiming website costs so you don’t miss out.

Are you considered a small business in Australia?

The Australian Taxation Office says you’re a small business for the purposes of the tax reduction if:

• you first used or installed ready for use your website during the period between 12/03/20 – 30/06/21, and you turnover less than $500 million per year, OR
• you first used or installed ready for use your website during the period between 2/04/19 – 11/03/20, and you turnover less than $30 million per year, AND
• you have an Australian Business Number (ABN) for your author business.

Sound like you?

What website costs can you claim as a small business?

Cost of the setup of the website

If you first used or installed ready for use your website during the period between bewteen 12/03/20 – 30/06/21, the ATO caps the instant asset write-off threshold at $150,000.

But lucky for you our collections of author websites don’t cost anywhere near that, and start from $990.

This means you can claim a deduction for the full amount of a website in the year you purchase it.

See our collection of author website designs here.

Ongoing running and maintenance costs

You can also claim an outright deduction for some ongoing expenses associated with running and maintaining your website.

This covers is any cost associated with the continuous running and maintaining your website, such as costs for:

• domain name registration,
• website hosting,
• website backup,
• email spam filters, or
• content or design fixes.

The key here is the maintenance not upgrades.

More detail on the Instant asset write-off laws

• For the full information on eligibility and the claim threshold, click here to go to the Australian Tax Office’s official article.
• The ATO also has a video series on tax basics for small business, including one on deductions you can claim.

There’s no time like the present (current financial year)

Want to take advantage of tax benefits? Check out our collection of one-of-a-kind designs, and claim it as an instant asset write-off at June 30.

Or, maybe it’s time for that WordPress Makeover?

“Jin was able to organise the existing content from my old website and transform it into a very professional-looking website.”
— Emily Gale