Can you deduct personal tuition expenses off of your taxes?

Question

If you want to pursue a masters degree and you are working at the same time can you deduct the cost of tuition, books, fees , etc etc off of your taxes? A seperate but related question: If your child is pursuing their first bachelors degree and going to college as a traditional freshman (straight out of high school) , and you are helping them pay for tuition, books, fees, room and board, can you deduct these cost off of your taxes?

Answer 1

For you you can claim either the tuition and fees deduction or the lifetime learning credit. For your child you can claim the Hope learning credit for their first two years of college, and the lifetime learning credit for any future years of college, or the tuition and fees deduction if that works out better. I have attached a link to the deduction/credits.

Answer 2

The correct answer to this question, is like all tax deductions and credits is maybe. There are income limits that may affect the ability to take any of the deductions--Concerning student loan interest--If you are single you can NOT get the deduction if your adjusted gross income is over $65,000 and if married filing jointly if the income is over $135,000.
And also, rarely can one deduct dollar for dollar interest even if you are under the income limits.
Concerning the Hope Education Credit and the Lifetime Learning credit. Rarely are books deductiable--you will have to have paid the college/university directly for the books in order for them to be deductiable--not a college book store.
Your dependent must be at least a half time student and in the first two years of education after public school when it comes to the Hope Education Credit.
The Lifetime Learning Credit you MAY qualify for if the masters degree is to acquire or improve job skills, you do not have to be a full time student, and there is no limit on the number of years you can take the credit provided you met the other qualifications. Remember these are not dollar for dollar credits. And remember there is a $2,000 PER RETURN limit for the Lifetime Learning Credit. And $1, 650 PER Student limit for the Hope Education Credit.
Also, be informed that credits are better than deductions.
Deductions are taken away from taxable income, Credits are taken away from your income tax. So if you do not have any income tax, credits will not apply.
For greater detail you can use the following links.
http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc605.html
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p970/ch02.html
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p970/ch03.html
I do not know who prepares your taxes, but a CPA or tax practioner that does tax planning should be able to give you a more accurate projected tax affect on these issues.

Answer 3

Yes, there are Hope and Lifetime Learning Credits available. Yes, You can write off interest you have paid. See a tax professional. There are alot of websites that deal with this. Try Yahoo Finance and Money.aol-- Turbo Tax also has information on this topic.

Answer 4

As for yourself yes, as for your child if you claim him as a dependent on your taxes yes, Room and board is one I cannot answer, tuition and books yes. There is also a one time claim of lifetime something sorry do not remember. Used Turbo tax answer the questions and they figure it out for you.