Education

To qualify for education credits, you must meet all three of the basic requirements to claim an education credit (American Opportunity Tax Credit and Lifetime Learning Credit) in addition to other rules for each credit.

You must meet all three of the basic requirements to claim an education credit (American Opportunity Tax Credit and Lifetime Learning Credit):

1. You, your dependent or a third party pays qualified education expenses for higher education.
2. An eligible student must be enrolled at an eligible educational institution.
3. The eligible student is yourself, your spouse or a dependent you list on your tax return.

You may not be receiving the credit for one of these common reasons:

• You are using the Married Filing Separately filing status
• Your adjusted gross income (AGI) is too high
  • The American Opportunity Tax Credit AGI limit is $90,000 ($180,000 for joint returns)
  • The Lifetime Learning Credit AGI limit is $90,000 ($180,000 for joint returns)
• Your educational expenses were paid with tax-free scholarships, fellowships, grants, education savings account funds, tax-free savings bond interest, or employer-provided education assistance.

For additional information, please review the IRS article Education Credits.  TurboTax also has an article explaining who can claim the credit. Please see Take Advantage of Two Education Tax Credits.