KrisD15
Expert Alumni

Education

Only your return.

 

If you are claiming the student as your dependent, you enter all the forms relating to education into your program so that the program can calculate a credit for you and/or any taxable income for the student. 

You claim the loan interest if you paid it. If anyone else paid it, including the student, no one can claim it. 

 

FOR 2021, you DO NOT need to separate the expenses and payments for the grad and undergrad expenses. 

For 2021, your student is considered still in the first four years of the degree even though she started grad school in the fall. All the expenses and payments can be lumped together (although you will enter each 1098-t forms)

 

IF the state in which you file has a credit, they may separate undergrad and grad expenses, depending on the state.  

 

According to the IRS:

"Example 2. After taking classes at College V on a
part-time basis for a few years, Shelly became a full-time
student for the 2021 spring semester. College V classified
Shelly as a second-semester senior (fourth year) for the
2021 spring semester and as a first-semester graduate
student (fifth year) for the 2021 fall semester. Because
College V didn't classify Shelly as having completed the
first 4 years of postsecondary education as of the beginning of 2021, Shelly is an eligible student for tax year
2021. Therefore, the qualified education expenses paid
for the 2021 spring semester and the 2021 fall semester
are taken into account in figuring the American opportunity credit for 2021."

 

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