American opportunity tax credit

[Bizzo333]

I'm married filing jointly. Our agi for last year was approx $16,000. I worked and my husband was a full time student. We are both 39. He had about $2,400 in expenses for college, from books and buying a laptop. Do we qualify for the aotc? Everything I'm reading says we do. But I had a tax professional tell me he needed to be under 24 years old. 

[Hal_Al]

Q. Do we qualify for the aotc?

A. Yes, if the student was half time or more and an undergrad at an eligible institution.

The AOTC is only 40 % refundable, so you're looking at a credit of only $840, because you have no tax liability with $16K AGI. 

You probably misunderstood the tax professional. Age 24 comes in to play but not in way you describe and not in your case. 

[rjs]

There is no age limit for the American Opportunity Credit. Either the tax professional was confused or misunderstood your question, or you misunderstood what the tax professional told you.

[Bizzo333]

Thank you for the clarification. I had already prepared my taxes beforehand. I had some questions so I signed up for a free tax consultation. Our numbers weren't matching up and they were trying to see why. They were reading in their manual admit the credit. Then, they said we couldn't claim it because he needed to be under 24. Then summarized it by joking he was too old to get the credit. I think they were just tired and ready to leave for the night, so they accepted it and moved on. I felt like the information was wrong so I told them I didn't want to file yet. I'm glad I did, because now I can get an additional $840 back!

[Hal_Al]

In case, you're interested, age 24 does come into play for the AOTC, but just the opposite of what you heard. 

Simple answer: you have to be over 23 and/or Married to get the AOTC. The AOTC law was essentially written for the parents of students, not the students themselves. 

There's a new urban myth among college students that says they can get a $1000 from the government just for filing a tax form. For most of them, they simply aren't eligible. A full time unmarried student, under age 24, even if you don't qualify as a dependent, is only eligible for the refundable portion of the American Opportunity Credit if he supports himself by working. You cannot be supporting yourself on parental support, 529 plans or student loans & grants. It is usually best if the parent claims that credit.

You cannot claim the (up to) $1000 refundable credit if you are, or can be, claimed as a dependent by someone else.

Reference: Line 7 instructions for form 8863.

https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i8863#en_US_2024_publink53002gd0e674