For the tuition and fees deduction for education I did not get any money back but I met all of the indications?

[Texas Roger · Accepted solution]

A deduction is not a refund or credit. The tuition and fees deduction is an adjustment to income that reduces your AGI. A lower AGI reduces the amount of taxable income and thus the amount of taxes that you must pay. If you had no taxable income before entering the deduction, you would get no tax break from the deduction.

It is almost always better to take the AOC or Lifetime Learning Credit than to take the tuition and fees deduction. However, if TurboTax gave you the deduction, it should have been better in your case. If selected the deduction when TurboTax recommended a credit, you would probably have benefited more from the credit.