Hi, I graduated with a bachelors degree in 2015 in three years including 30 test creds. AOC was claimed in 2013, 14, and 15. If I return to school could I claim the AOC?

[-beaverboy2]

I was a student for 6 consecutive semesters, and earned 90 credits at a university, and had 30 CLEP/AP credits. The IRS says AOC is not available if 4 years of postsecondary education was completed, but says "For this purpose, don't include academic credit awarded solely because of the student's performance on proficiency examinations." However, elsewhere online people say that the AOC is not available once a 4-year degree has been completed, but I can't find anything that addresses if a 4-year degree was completed within 3 years due to 1/4 of the credits being earned by testing.

[xmasbaby0]

No you cannot get the AOC for graduate school.  You can, however, try the Lifetime Learning Credit.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/3262983-who-is-eligible-to-take-the-american-opportunity-tax-credi...

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/3262984-who-is-eligible-for-the-lifetime-learning-credit

[-beaverboy2]

I'm not necessarily talking about graduate school, but could pursue a second undergrad degree. From what I can tell, though, the IRS (and Turbo tax) doesn't say anything about graduate school - what you linked to said "You did not complete the first four years of post-secondary education before the beginning of the year" (and the IRS clarifies this does not include proficiency testing). That would be true in my case, would it not?

[Anonymous]

from pub 970  table 2-1

Number of years of postsecondary education Available ONLY if the student had not completed the first 4 years of postsecondary education before 2018 (generally, the freshman through senior years, determined by the eligible educational institution, not including academic credit awarded solely because of the student's performance on proficiency examinations)
the way i read this if you get a 4 year degree in 3 years (takes more credit hours in a semester to do this) you don't qualify.   however, you say you took tests to earn 1/4 of your credits so I would say you have used up only 3 years.

note that if you pursue a 4th year,   you must meet all the requirements. 

[Critter]

OK ... let me break it down for you so you see why  you cannot use the AOC any longer ...

You attended school in 13, 14, & 15 and got your 4 year degree in 2015.  

Now it is 2019 and you go back to school for another degree ... qualifying question #1 is :  As of 1/1/19 did you already complete a 4 year degree ?   The fact that you only took 3 years to get the 4 year degree is immaterial ... the fact is  you do have a 4 year degree already ... so NO AOC for you.   All you can use is the Lifetime Learning Credit.  

This also holds true for high school students that do the dual enrollment and graduate HS with an AA degree ... then it only takes 2 school years to get the bachelor degree so they can only use the AOC for 3 times due to the school year spanning 3 tax years. 

[-beaverboy2]

I've been getting a lot of opinions but based on how people read things, but that's not helpful; I've read all the IRS rules on this and it's not entirely clear, so I'm looking for someone who actually has ran into this issue before and knows for sure how the IRS addresses it. This is what publication 970 (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p970.pdf) says: 

There's obviously a reason the IRS included that exception there. But 90% of people online (here and elsewhere) are saying it doesn't matter how long it takes to get the bachelors degree. Why then does the IRS publish guidance like this? Maybe 90% of people are wrong. But it would be nice if someone actually knew with 100% certainty. Whether or not I can afford to go back to school may depend on the answer.

[-beaverboy2]

Where does the IRS say anything about "completing a 4-year degree"? It talks about "4 years of post-secondary education," with an exclusion for proficiency examination credit. Are you seeing some other IRS guidance I haven't seen?