Hello,
Both of my children are enrolled in a private school. They will soon begin 6th grade and 4th grade. Am I able to "Write off" anything pertaining to school? like tuition, money spent for school supplies, school lunches that I have to pay for, field trip fees?
Also, any extracurricular activities like music, summer camp, soccer? My husband is actually coaching their Fall soccer season this year so out of our own pockets we purchased a bench for the players, and easy up tent, soccer goals for practices, and goalie gloves. None of these items are provided to us so we had to buy them ourselves.
Thank you,
SAHM 🙂
Education expenses for grades K-12 are not deductible on a federal tax return. Your state may have these as a deduction and the TurboTax state tax program will cover these if available for your state.
EDUCATION EXPENSES
Education expenses for grades K-12 are not deductible on your federal return, whether for private, public, or home schooling, nor are the expenses for tutoring, after school lessons or after school activities, such as dance lessons, sports, etc. Some states allow deductions/credits for K-12 education and/or home schooling expenses; if your state has these deductions available, you will be prompted to enter them when you prepare your state return. (As far as I know, the states that offer any sort of K-12 deductions/credits are Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa,Louisiana, Minnesota, and Wisconsin)
You mentioned "summer camp." The cost of day camp for a child who is under 13 is eligible for the Child and Dependent Care Credit. Overnight camp is not eligible for the credit.
If the school is authorized by the IRS to accept tax-deductible contributions, the equipment (bench, tent, goals, gloves) are a charitable contribution if you give the items to the school. If you keep the items there is no deduction. Charitable contributions are an itemized deduction. They will not reduce your tax or increase your refund unless your total itemized deductions are more than your standard deduction.
RJS - Thank you. For the summer camp being eligible for the Child and Dependent Care Credit, am I only able to add it if I'm working or a full-time student? I'm a stay-at-home mom from California and I'm pretty sure my husband tried to add the summer camp as childcare but it wouldn't allow it because I do not work nor am I a full-time student. We only sign them up a few weeks out of the summer just so they aren't stuck at home the entire summer.
Is there anywhere else the summer camp can be included? Just because I'm a stay-at-home mom doesn't mean I should not be able to include a little momma break! haha!
Thanks
No----the child and dependent care credit cannot be used unless both parents are either working or are disabled or are full-time students. You state that you are a "stay at home mom"----your children are not attending summer day camp so that you can work or go to school. Take all the breaks you need, but they cannot be entered on a federal tax return for a tax credit.