I contracted with Applied Instructional Design Academy to participate in their 9-month course in ID. Is this deductible as an educational expense? The fee was $7300.

[DawnC]

Maybe.  If you are self-employed, you deduct your expenses for qualifying work-related education directly from your self-employment income. This reduces the amount of your income subject to both income tax and self-employment tax.

For all others:

There are two education credits available: the American opportunity tax credit (AOTC) and the lifetime learning credit (LLC).  There are additional rules for each credit, but you must meet all three of the following for both:

1. You, your dependent or a third party pays qualified education expenses for higher education.
2. An eligible student must be enrolled at an eligible educational institution.
3. The eligible student is yourself, your spouse or a dependent you list on your tax return.

See this handy chart to compare the education credits.

• Find out more about the American opportunity tax credit
• Find out more about the lifetime learning credit

******You can use the IRS's linked tool, "Am I Eligible to Claim an Education Credit?" to help you determine if you are eligible for education credits and deductions.

[Hal_Al]

 To be eligible for the tuition credits, the course must be taken at "an eligible institution". The school should be able to tell you if it is an eligible educational institution. In general, an eligible educational institution is an accredited college, university, vocational school, or other postsecondary educational institution, including accredited, public, nonprofit, and proprietary (privately-owned, profit-making) postsecondary institutions. Additionally, in order to be an eligible educational institution, the school must be eligible to participate in a student aid program administered by the Department of Education. If they issue a 1098-T they are probably an eligible institution.

Enter your school at the link below, to see if it's on the dept. of education list.

https://ope.ed.gov/dapip/#/home