I'm not qualifying for the Unreimbursed Educator Expenses Deduction this year, but my wife is. We are both teachers and have always claimed it. Any ideas what's going on?

[tschiari]

If I fill in $300 for me and $300 for my wife, it shows up as a $600 deduction BUT it also adds an additional $300 deduction under "Job Expenses for W-2 Income" which neither of us qualify for. If I put $0 for me and $300 for my wife, I see a $300 deduction and the $300 for "Job Expenses for W-2 Income" goes away. But if I put $300 for me and $0 for my wife, I'm told I don't qualify. I spoke to TurboTax today for 50 minutes and they couldn't figure it out either. It feels like a software glitch, but I'd be interested to hear other opinions.

[KeshaH]

You can deduct up to $300 in qualified educator expenses to the extent that your expenses exceed:

- nontaxable interest on series EE and I US savings bonds

- nontaxable distributions from a qualified state tuition program

- tax-free withdrawals from Coverdell education savings accounts

- reimbursed expenses

If you received any of this tax-free income you'll have to enter expenses above the amount you received for the deduction to calculate.

[tschiari]

I did not receive any of the tax-free income that you listed.

[MonikaK1]

In order to take the Educator Expense Deduction, teachers should begin by determining eligibility. Once you have verified that you meet the minimum hours and that you work in a qualifying school, look at your expenses over the last year that qualify for this deduction. There are a few factors that influence how much you can deduct:

• You can’t deduct expenses reimbursed by your school, covered by a grant or another source.
• Expenses can only be deducted when they exceed tax-free withdrawals from your Coverdell Education Savings Account, distributions from state tuition programs that you don’t report as income, and interest on savings bonds that don’t need to be reported if you paid higher education expenses.
• For tax years prior to 2018, and in states that still allow employee business expenses as itemized deductions, qualified expenses in excess of the Educator Expense limits may be deductible as itemized deductions instead. See this tax tips article for more information.

In order for us to troubleshoot this issue, you can send us a “diagnostic” file that has your “numbers” but not your personal information.  If you would like to do this, here are the instructions for TurboTax Online users: 

Go to the black panel on the left side of your program and select Tax Tools. 

1. Then select Tools below Tax Tools. 
2. A window will pop up which says Tools Center.  
3. On this screen, select Share my file with Agent. 
4. You will see a message explaining what the diagnostic copy is.  Click okay through this screen and then you will get a Token number. 
5. Reply to this thread with your Token number. This will allow us to open a copy of your return without seeing any personal information.  

We will then be able to see exactly what you are seeing and we can determine what exactly is going on in your return and provide you with a resolution.

If you are using TurboTax Desktop please comment back and I will give you those instructions.

@tschiari