It's not a credit; it's only a deduction from income before tax is calculated.
But, it's not an itemized deduction. It's an "above the line" deduction, known as an adjustment to income (line 23 of form 1040). So, you can have your educator deduction ans still get the full standard deduction in addition. It is not a straight $250 deduction, just for being a teacher. You are allowed to deduct your actual out of pocket expenses, up to $250.
If you normally itemize deductions, and have job expenses exceeding the $250 limit; you mat deduct those additional expense on schedule A. In TurboTax enter at:
Federal Taxes Tab (Personal for H&B version)
Deductions & Credits
Next select "I'll choose what I work on"
-Scroll down to:
--Employment Expenses
---Job related expense
It's a misc. itemized deduction subject to the 2% of AGI threshold. Job expenses are not dollar for dollar deductions. Its a very hard deduction to actually benefit from for most people. First, it is subject to a 2% AGI threshold, which means, for example, if your adjusted gross income is $50,000, the first $1,000 in expenses would not even be deductible at all and only the amount over $1,000 would be eligible for a deduction. Second, it is an itemized deduction, which means you have to have more itemized deductions (charity, mortgage interest, job related, etc) than the standard deduction ($6300 single and $12,600 married filing jointly) for it to even be worth itemizing your deductions.
