Lifetime Learning Credit Refund

[egroff93]

I got the Lifetime Learning credit that bumped up my refund by$2000. I thought this credit was nonrefundable and I wouldn't be getting any sort of refund from it. Today I received my federal tax return and the extra $2000 was there. Do I get to keep it?

[DavidD66 · Accepted solution]

The lifetime learning credit is not a refundable credit.  You cannot receive the lifetime learning credit as a refund if you owe no tax.  I can't explain why you received the credit without being able to see your return, but if the program let you claim it and the IRS did not adjust your refund, you must qualify  for it, or it was something other than the Lifetime Learning Credit.

[egroff93]

So it is taking my nonrefundable tax credit into 13b which affected my refund greatly. 

[SusanY1]

While your Lifetime Learning Credit shows on Line 7, it isn't part of your refund.

You have a tax liability of $2,107 (Line 12a).  This is mostly covered by your $2,000 child tax credit (not your lifetime learning credit, Line 13b). This leaves a balance of $107 (Line16). You had $2,273 withheld from your paycheck (Line 17) and this leaves $2,166 as your refund (Line 20).