American opputurnity credit- H4 student

[kartheeksrm1]

Spose is on H4 visa and a full time student. Doesn't have an ITIN and will be applying along with this Federal return. 

TurboTax doesn't give you a American opportunity credit for being a student if you dont fill the ITIN section. Is there something we need to enter as this return will be filed with an ITIN application anyway. 

I am on H1 and am a resident for tax purposes

[xmasbaby0]

https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/am-i-eligible-to-claim-an-education-credit

[kartheeksrm1]

This tells me i am eligible but Turbotax wont let me claim that without entering a number in the ITIN/SSN section of Education/1098-T

[xmasbaby0]

Maybe some thoughts from a different Champ......  @pk?

[pk]

@kartheeksrm1 , first Namaste;  Second,  Sorry for the late reply and hoping that this will still be useful to you;

third --- since you are a Resident for Tax Purposes ( H-1B ), your spouse  ( being H-4, a dependent visa ) is also a Resident for Tax Purposes .

Thus  , when preparing your return,  1.  you use a dummy  SSN  ( something like  991-45-5000 or even  your own SSN but changing the last four  so as to be different from your own  ) to satisfy TurboTax software checks;  2. Prepare as per normal including educational  credits claims etc. ; 3. when all finished and all checks satisfied , tell TurboTax that you are going to file by mail; 4. Print, date  and sign ( both of you );  5. Now erase  ( snopake ) the dummy SSN and write in RA ( Resident Alien );  6. Attach the  W-7 , documents etc. and mail the whole package to  the address shown on instructions for form W-7 ( application for ITIN).   That should work

Note that American Opportunity Credit is applicable  ONLY for the first four years of Post Secondary education and not for grad school -- but there are other credits like life long learning etc.

Does this take care of your query ?  Is there more I can do for you ?

Namaste ji

pk