Education

If you are an employee, you claim your education costs if the education is required by your employer or enhances your skills in your current job. If your education does not satisfy either of these conditions, it is not deductible.

Education expenses are claimed as job-related expenses on Schedule A - Itemized deductions.

Job-related expenses are subject to the 2% rule and you can only claim the excess over 2% of your adjusted gross income.

Please note that Itemized Deductions will only "help" when they exceed your standard deduction.

For 2017, standard deductions are:

For a taxpayer under 65, not claimed as a dependent:

• $6,350 for Single
• $12,700 for Married Filing Jointly, or Qualifying Widow(er) with dependent child
• $9,350 for Head of Household
• $6,350 for Married Filing Separately
• If you are over 65 or blind, add $1,250 for each instance or add $1,550 each instance if single and not a surviving spouse

You can deduct your job-related expenses by following these steps:

• In TurboTax, open your tax return
• Click on Federal in the left-hand column, then on Deductions & Credits on top of the screen
• Scroll down to All Tax breaks, locate the section Employment Expenses and click on Show more
• Click Start next to Job expenses for W-2 Income.