It depends.
If you are not able to claim an education deduction because your education expenses do not qualify, the only other place that you might be able to claim some of these expenses would be as work-related expenses. (Otherwise, they would be considered personal expenses and you would not be able to claim them on your tax return.)
According to the IRS, for work-related education to be
deductible, your expenses must be for education that (1) maintains or improves
your job skills or (2) your employer or a law requires it to keep your salary,
status, or job. However, even if the education meets either of these tests, the
education cannot be part of a program that will qualify you for a new trade or
business or that you need to meet the minimal educational requirements of your
trade or business
If your education expenses could be considered job-related, then you would be able to claim a deduction as un-reimbursed job-related
expenses. These are deductible miscellaneous expenses that are subject to a 2%
AGI limitation and are only deductible if you itemize.
To
enter your job-related expenses in TurboTax Online or Desktop, please
follow these steps:
- Once
you are in your tax return, click on the “Federal Taxes” tab
- Next click on “Deductions and
credits”
- Next click on "jump to
full list" or “I’ll choose what I work on”
- Scroll down the screen until
to come to the section “Employment Expenses”
- Choose "show more",
then Job-related expenses and follow the onscreen instructions
- Say "yes" to
question "Did you have any of these expenses in 2016 for your W-2
income?" under the screen titled "Employment Expenses Related
to a W-2".
- after about
6 to 10 question screens, you will get to a screen titled "Any Other
Expenses" you can put this information here (see screenshot)
Please note: For an accreditation exam
that is not required by your employer but is an initial exam, the IRS will not
allow you to claim a miscellaneous deduction.
According to the IRS, when the expense involves
Professional Accreditation Fees, you can't deduct professional accreditation fees such as the following:
- Accounting certificate fees
paid for the initial right to practice accounting.
- Bar exam fees and incidental
expenses in securing initial admission to the bar.
- Medical and dental license
fees paid to get initial licensing.
For
more information about what is allowed and what is not allowed as a
miscellaneous deduction, please refer to the following link:
https://www.irs.gov/publications/p529/ar02.html#en_US_2015_publink100027031
