Posted on January 31st, 2014

There are a number of deductions for education and things to consider on it.

 Student Expenses

 Claiming a student’s expenses on the parent’s tax return where you can claim up to $4,000 in educational costs. Note that the deduction for this may be phased out depending upon your income.

 Also consider listing the educational expense either as the “American Opportunity Credit” which is available for the first 4 years of post high school education and leading to a degree, or the “Lifetime Learning Credit” which is available for years. Each of these credits is phased out as your income is increased over certain levels. These credits can only be claimed by the person who also claims the student on his/her tax return. If the taxpayer is eligible for both credits, he should claim the American Opportunity Credit as it covers more deductible expenses and the credit itself is higher.

 Work related education as an expense.

 You can get a deduction for work related education if it helps you maintain or improve your job skills. However if it is for a degree, usually it is non-deductible. If it is to qualify you for a new position, then it does not qualify. Often these expenses are deductible on page 2, of the Schedule A as miscellaneous deduction and reduced by 2% of the taxpayer’s adjusted gross income. So if you don’t itemize, there is no deduction.

 It is also possible to deduct travel itself as a work related deduction, most especially if you are a French teacher here in America and it directly affects your work. Say, you are a teacher of French and you go to France for the summer. It can work to your benefit to deduct this as a miscellaneous education expense. But you must get this approved through an organization that sponsors something like this first. You might need to get some letters from places you went to and recommendation from your principal or other professors to validate it is for professional reasons. Best to talk to us first, if this is something you’d like to pursue, as validating this for the IRS is tricky.