Q. My son is going to school for Heavy Equipment they were required to buy a list of tools are we able to write that off?
A. Simple answer: Yes.
If the school is an eligible institution* for the federal education credits, the tools would qualify as "course materials" and be a qualified expense for calculating the education credit, if he is otherwise eligible.
There is no actual write off (deduction), per se. The expense is added to tuition cost in calculating the credit. It only takes $4000 of tuition and other expenses to get the maximum credit. So, the additional expenses may or may not help.
If the student is your dependent, you claim the tuition/education credit, rather than him.
* To be eligible for the tuition credits, the course must be taken at "an eligible institution". The school should be able to tell you if it is an eligible educational institution. In general, an eligible educational institution is an accredited college, university, vocational school, or other postsecondary educational institution, including accredited, public, nonprofit, and proprietary (privately-owned, profit-making) postsecondary institutions. Additionally, in order to be an eligible educational institution, the school must be eligible to participate in a student aid program administered by the Department of Education. If they issue a 1098-T they are probably an eligible institution.
Enter your school at the link below, to see if it's on the dept. of education list.
https://ope.ed.gov/dapip/#/home
