So I’m trying to get a head start on me and my spouses tax return. We’ve been students for the past few years, even before we got married, and couldn’t claim the AOTC before. I always assumed it was because we went to a unaccredited college that didn’t issue 1098-T forms despite having the schools EIN, but I had friends in the past who could claim the credit (they were transfers from accredited colleges and had student loans).
For some reason I figured I’d try to claim the AOCT this year, so I put in the school’s EIN info and it actually worked. I don’t know if I’ve been doing something wrong the past few years, or if I did something wrong this time lol. So my questions are:
1 can students of unaccredited colleges claim the AOCT?
2 is there a special form I need to fill out to claim it? I found that I might get a letter or notice from the IRS saying I need to fill out a form 8862 to claim it but I haven’t received such letter or notice.
3 would I need to go back and amend previous tax filings to claim the AOTC from years past?
Thanks for your time!
