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Tax Credits or Cuts With Education

I have a question regarding last years taxes. I currently owe money to the government / IRS and have not yet filed my taxes.

My question is if I had paid for a college class which was about $400 or almost this amount in tuition and paid for a book that was about $80 ... is there a tax credit or deduction that I could use to grant me the ability to pay less taxes.

I read something about a Hope Tax Credit or a Lifetime Learning Credit ... What do these apply to? Could I use one of these? If I can get a deduction or use a tax credit for this...which form would apply to this?

Thanks in advanced for any helpful response.

MC

Reply to
maxed_out41
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Possibly. See IRS Publication 970. Check out the tuition and fees deduction and the lifetime learning credit. If this was business related there's also information about that.

Reply to
Phil Marti

Did you receive a 1099-T from the institution? If you took the course this year, you should receive this 1099-T early next year. So you can ask the institution if they are qualified and issue a 1099-T.

Were you required to purchase the $80 book from the university as a condition of your enrollment? If no, then the book is not deductible.

Hope credit is only for the first two years of college, and may sometimes be more than the lifetime learning credit. The lifetime learning credit is 20% of qualified expenses, up to a maximum amount. There's also the tuition and fees deduction. A good computer program or tax preparer will figure out the best choice for you. All of these credits/deductions get phased out if your income is too high. The tuition and fees deduction vanishes as your AGI passes certain income levels -- ie. it does not phase out gradually.

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Reply to
removeps-groups

Even the IRS advises ignoring the 1099-T since they're so unreliable. A

1099-T is not required to claim an education tax benefit, and it's fine to work from your record of payments to the institution.
Reply to
Phil Marti

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