Thanks everyone for your comments.

If the issue is still being argued and I go ahead with this but then the taxpayer loses the case will that mean that I am liable retrospectively for the deductions that I have claimed? Or if I go ahead and say in 6 months legislation is introduced to outlaw the deduction will I be liable retrospectively or only from the date the legislation is introduced? I know these are hypotheticals but I’m just trying to get a handle on the level of risk that I would be taking if I went ahead.

Cheers (it’s wine o’clock)
Kate

Thanks heaps for your help Mel and Simon.

The reason why I wanted to do this is because we have had significant growth on our IP and consequently we now have quite a large amount of equity. We owe about $15k on our PPOR which I want to eradicate but now that we are paying school fees it seems like it is going to take forever (it’s kind of like the last few kg when you’ve already lost a lot of weight). We’ve worked really hard to get our home loan to where it is but the last little bit is going to prove the hardest. I remembered that way back when I first found this site there was a news section that was following the ATO’s position on this issue. Do you know what the relevant cases or rulings are?

Thanks again

Kate