I claimed the wrong education credit on my taxes. I used Turbo Tax. It actually picked the credit for me.?

Question

It asked me if I claimed the Hope Education Credit in 2005. I didn't claim it in 2005, so I said no. The thing is I claimed it in 2003 and 2004. I am not done with my post secondary education. Technically I am a sophmore (college years). I am in the process of amending the return. Is this credit applicable for college years or tax years? Can I spend the refund amount now. Or do I need to wait for the ammendment to take place before spending any of the refund.

Answer 1

Wait until the IRS processes your return, if they do disallow the credit, file an amended return claiming the correct credit, make sure to include the form 8863 with the amended return
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8863.pdf
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040x.pdf
The 1040X needs to be mailed in and takes 8 to 12 weeks to process

Answer 2

The Hope Credit is only available the first 2 yrs of college. After that you must take the Lifetime learning credit. If yoiu took the Hope for a third year, amend the return and claim the Lifetime learning credit instead. Good luck.

Answer 3

You can only claim the Hope Credit for two years. You can use the Lifetime Learning credit however