Genreally, expenditure is not deductible where it is capital in nature or private or domestic in nature . Apart from the priniple, there is a vast range of case law that has determined whether a given type of expenditure is either revenue in nature (and therefore likely to be immediately deductible for taxation purposes), capital in nature (and the extent to which it may then be subject to the depreciation regime, if at all), or private in nature.
Unusual or questionable types of expenditure need to be determined for deductibility after due consideration of income tax Act and case law – it is not simply a question of taking a cavalier approach toward determining the deductibility of expenditure.