Tax treatment of repayment of educational assistance

Hi all, I cannot find the answer to this anywhere so hopefully someone here can help. I received educational assistsnce from my employer for my PhD fees but I have decided to leave the company. The company are deducting the repayment of fees from my remaining salary which is fine. But they are deducting it from my NET salary. My question is this correct? I was under the impression that educational asistance is not taxable so should it not be deducted from my gross salary?

Many thanks!

Educational assistance is not listed as non-taxable.

Non taxable only applies in cases where:

• course or exam fees where the course is:
  • necessary for your duties
  • directly related to increasing the effectiveness of the performance of your duties

However, you can claim tax relief on qualifying fees see here:


I am however wondering if you paid taxes for BIK of those fees whilst you were working, and if not, why not.