Teachers can claim the Educator Expense Deduction regardless of whether they take the standard deduction or
itemize their tax deductions
.
- A teacher can deduct a maximum of $250.
- Two married teachers filing a joint return can take a deduction of up to $250 apiece, for a maximum of $500.
You can claim the deduction on Form 1040 or Form 1040A, but not on Form 1040EZ.
However, your potential deduction isn't necessarily limited to $250 per teacher—so don't stop keeping track at $250. That's because your expenses in excess of $250 can count as "unreimbursed employee expenses."
- If you itemize, you can deduct unreimbursed job expenses that exceed 2% of your adjusted gross income.
-
These include not just educator expenses, but also outside-the-classroom costs you paid from your own pocket, such as travel, investment costs, and union dues.
Please follow the instructions below to enter your Educator Expense deduction:
- Go to Federal Taxes
- Find the Deductions and Credits tab
- Choose "I'll choose what I work on"
- Scroll down to Employment Expenses
- Click Start next to Teacher expenses, other job-related expenses
Or try this for online.
To enter your Educator Expenses in TurboTax:
- Open (continue) your return in TurboTax Online. (If your return isn't open, you'll need to sign in and click Take me to my return.)
- Click My Account (top right of your screen).
- Select Tools.
- In the pop-up window, select Topic Search.
- In the search bar, type teacher.
- In the results box, highlight teacher classroom expenses, then click GO.
- Follow the onscreen instructions. (Click the screenshots below to see the screens in this section of the tax interview.)
Note: If using the TurboTax CD/Download software, you'll use the Find function (instead of "My Account") to search for the topic.
