TurboTax won't let me pick my education credit

[KTurb]

American Opportunity Credit will only deduct up to $2,500 but the Tuition Deduction Credit will deduct $4,000 and I cannot choose it manually but it does show me the credits and money I qualified to deduct for each one. It choose for me the American Opportunity credit but I tried manually choosing and it wont let me. Can someone help me please?!

It stresses me out knowing I would be robbed out of an extra $1,500 of possible deduction because TurboTax decided so. I have a good understand of how it works and why it does certain decisions but this is my 6th year using it and decided to purchase the CD option at Costco and it is not flexible with manually choosing different options.

[KatrinaB48]

The Turbotax software gives you the education credit that increases your refund the most. The Tuition and Fees Deduction is a nonrefundable credit and the credit amount depends on your tax. For example, if your tax was $1,000 and you were in the 10% bracket, then your credit amount would be $100. So this type of credit does not directly increase your refund amount. The American Opportunity Credit is a partially refundable credit. Up to $1,000 of this credit directly increases your refund amount and the other $1,500 reduces your tax. It sounds as if you qualified for the maximum amount of education credit available. Please view the TurboTax FAQ as it explains the Tuition and. Fees deduction. This IRS link also breaks down the benefits of the American Opportunity credit.

[gkrog2]

I know the difference in the Education tax credits.  I want to use the Lifetime credit because Rylie is only a part time student this year and won't get the full amount back for the American Opportunity credit.  I want to wait and claim it in 2020 when she is full time and can claim the entire amount.  How do I change it from the American Opportunity to the Lifetime?

[KurtL1]

The only way to claim the Tuition and Fees Deduction when the American Opportunity Credit (AOC) gives you the best tax advantage to answer some questions where Rylie would not qualify for the AOC.

• Enter 1098-T in the Search Magnifying Glass in the upper right hand corner of the screen
• Select Jump to 1098-T
• Go through the screens until you see the screen "Do you want to add a student"
• Edit the student
• On the screen Edit Education Information.
• Go through the screens until you reach the following and answer the questions as shown.

Select Maximize My Education Tax Break. The Tuition and Fees or Life Time Learning Credit will be your only options. The AOC will be eliminated.

[RickinMI]

I have used TurboTax the last 4 years. The last 3 years we received the American Opportunity Credit for our son. This is his final year in college. Anyway, for some reason even though I am keying it in as I have in the past, it is telling me that the American Opportuntiy Tax Credit is being denied because he is not longer a student. This is simply WRONG... and very odd. The American Opportunity Tax Credit is a better deduction for me that the $4000 Tuition credit. How can I override this manually?????????????  This is NUTS!

[KurtL1]

We are unable to view your return here in the Community. There are a few questions in the return and depending on how they are answered, could classify your son as a non-student in 2019. Without looking at your return, we cannot find where a question or questions need to be changed. 

To have an Agent look at your return with an Offline Review to answer your question or to schedule a time to talk to an Agent with a Live Review see What is TurboTax Live? - Community.