I paid for my tuition and books for school for fall, summer and spring in 2019. Can I claim this, the school sent me papers with the amounts

To deduct your education expenses in TurboTax, type education in to the search bar and click on the Jump to education link to be taken to that section.    You can deduct: 

 

• Tuition
• Enrollment fees
• Expenses paid to school, on condition of enrollment (lab fees, for example)
• Certain books, supplies, and course-related equipment
• Expenses listed above (for the following semester), as long as the semester begins in the first three months of 2020  ***
• Education expenses paid with cash, checks, credit cards and savings accounts
• Education expenses paid with loans, gifts and inheritances

 

Deduction for Higher Education   

Understand these facts:

1) Colleges work in academic years, while the IRS works in calendar years. So the reality is, it takes you 5 calendar years to get that 4 year degree.

2) Scholarships, grants, 529 distributions and all other education assistance received is reported as such in the tax year it is received. It does not matter what tax year that money is *for*.

3) Tuition, books, lab fees are claimed as education expenses in the tax year they are paid. It does not matter what tax year is paid *for*.

Now since some credits such as the AOTC are limited to four years, that's why you want to pay in full all qualified expenses for the last semester of the 4th school year, before the end of the first semester of the 4th school year.