topic Education Tax Break in Education

Education Tax Break

Lumilayla — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 09:52:31 GMT

AGI is less then 180k, married filing jointly, its 163k

Daughter is 19, dependent, attending college, we paid 9k for the college plus expenses for books, cpu, supplies, etc, totaling 3k

Turbo Tax is saying "you are not eligible for an education credit"

-income exceeds the max limit -NO

- Somebody else can claim you as a dependent on their tax return - NO

-There were no net qualified expenses, -Yes, the tuition, she didn't receive any grants or scholarships

Any ideas?

Re: Education Tax Break

Hal_Al — Fri, 19 Jan 2024 12:50:36 GMT

You've done something wrong. There is no "- Somebody else can claim you as a dependent on their tax return" question in the education interview.

Your daughter must have been previously entered as your dependent, in the personal info section.

The usual solution is delete the education stuff and start over. Go through the entire education interview until you reach a screen titled "Your Education Expenses Summary". Click delete next to the student's name (you cannot change it and you cannot save your entered info). After you confirm your deletion, the next screen will allow you to add a student. Re-type in everything.

Re: Education Tax Break

Hal_Al — Fri, 19 Jan 2024 12:56:12 GMT

What is "modified adjusted gross income" for the purpose of the AOTC?

For most filers, it is the amount of your AGI, adjusted gross income, from your tax return. If you file Form 1040 or 1040-SR, your MAGI is the AGI on line 11 of that form, modified by adding back any:

Foreign earned income exclusion
Foreign housing exclusion
Foreign housing deduction
Exclusion of income by bona fide residents of American Samoa or Puerto Rico.