Illinois State Credit for Teachers

[HelenC12]

The IL $250 tax credit will offset costs for Illinois teachers who have been paying out of pocket to make sure their classrooms have the school supplies they need. The new credit is available to Illinois public school teachers, teachers' aides and principals who work at least 900 hours during the school year.

• The $250 credit comes in addition to a $250 federal tax deduction for teachers who have unreimbursed business expenses.

To enter your IL educator expenses:

1. On the Take a look at Illinois credits and taxes screen, scroll down to Instructional materials and supplies and click on Start. 
2. Continue with the onscreen interview until complete.

Related information: What is the Educator Expense deduction?

[teachIL]

I need clarification please.  If I spend $250 on eligible supplies, do I enter them twice in TurboTax?  Once while going through the Federal interview and once when going through the State interview?

I've tried a combination of neither, both, just fed, or just IL and get unexpected results that don't make it clear.  While entering the expenses in Federal only the tax benefit is less than if I only enter it in the State.  Of course if I only enter in the State then I don't get any Federal credit.  If I enter in both then the benefit is greater than the $250.

[JotikaT2]

The expenses for teacher supplies will only be entered in the Federal section of the program.  This will pull into your state return.

On the Illinois interview section, it does ask about Education Credits.  But these credits are different than the adjustment to income for your Teacher Expenses entered into the federal interview section.

The Education Expense Credit listed in your state income tax return applies to expenses for your child and any applicable expenses paid out of pocket for their education.

The federal input will be an adjustment to income.  The amount of any state education credits will be used to offset any tax liability on your Illinois state income tax return.

[teachIL]

We are not talking about the same thing.  You are talking about Education Credits but I am asking about Educator Credits.

See images below:

First interview question.

Follow up interview question.

[teachIL]

Just responding to say that I found the solution in this other thread that I started.  It turns out that you do need to enter it in both Federal and State because there is a separate state credit on top of the deduction but it has higher qualifying requirements.

Link to solution:  https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/tax-credits-deductions/discussion/illinois-teacher-educator-expens...