Why do the prompting questions for a qualified 529 distribution only include elementary or high school, but not middle? (And if it doesn't matter why ask the question?)

Middle school tuition can be paid with 529 distributions. Middle schools are also known as junior high schools.

Thank you.

I just don't understand why the Turbo Tax prompting question only has elementary or high school as options. It should either have all 3 (if differentiating matters), or just have one option for K-12. The omission forced me to decide whether middle school is really elementary school or high school, which is a needless hassle.

Yes, this is puzzling, and was never really answered. I guess I'll put High School instead of Middle, but this doesn't make sense.

The IRS uses the terms "Eligible elementary or secondary school"

Some states call certain years as "Middle School" when they fall in the middle of the K-12 years. 

 

I believe there may have been concern that people would be confused by "secondary school" so that term was changed to "High School" in the TurboTax program. This is only a personal guess. 

 

Some states do NOT recognize a distribution for K-12 education as having the tax-free status that the Federal return gives, but at this time, pertaining to a 529 distribution, there is no difference between "Elementary" "Middle" or "High" school. 

 

According to the IRS:

“Eligible elementary or secondary school. An eligible elementary or secondary school is any public, private, or religious school that provides elementary or secondary education (kindergarten through grade 12), as determined under state law.”

 

 

Thanks Kris. Indeed, it probably makes little difference whether you pick Elementary or High School. Turbo should just improve their UI to reduce that obvious confusion point.