Yes, to be deductible, your expenses must be for education that either maintains or improves your job skills, or is required by your employer or by law to keep your salary, status or job.
To claim educational expenses, you must be employed at the time of payment
Expenses to learn a new trade or job or to qualify for a new career aren't deductible.
However, to deduct unreimbursed employee business
expenses (such as your exams), you must
1.
Have enough itemized deductions (ie. Medical, mortgage
interest, property taxes, charitable giving, ect) to exceed your Standard
Deduction.
2.
If you itemize, your deduction is limited to the extent that it exceeds
2% of your Adjusted Gross Income.
So, you may not gain a tax benefit for this
deduction due to the above limitations.
For example, if you itemize your deductions
and your Adjusted Gross Income is $50,000, 2% would equal $1,000
You
can only deduct the dollar amount that exceeds $1,000.
.