Why does Turbotax indicate I don’t qualify for the American Opportunity tax credit?

[katco9467]

I have reviewed the IRS guidelines and even manually completed Form 8863.  Everything except TurboTax indicates I qualify for both refundable and non-refundable credits.

[LauraShine · Accepted solution]

The American opportunity tax credit (AOTC) is a credit for qualified education expenses paid for an eligible student for the first four years of higher education. You can get a maximum annual credit of $2,500 per eligible student. If the credit brings the amount of tax you owe to zero, you can have 40 percent of any remaining amount of the credit (up to $1,000) refunded to you.

The amount of the credit is 100 percent of the first $2,000 of qualified education expenses you paid for each eligible student and 25 percent of the next $2,000 of qualified education expenses you paid for that student. But, if the credit pays your tax down to zero, you can have 40 percent of the remaining amount of the credit (up to $1,000) refunded to you.

In Addition, below is the Interactive Tax Assistant which will help you determine if you qualify and if not, it will explain why. 

  https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/am-i-eligible-to-claim-an-education-credit