Can I put school supply costs on my taxes?

Question

This year I had to buy some very expensive tools to use in dental hygiene school. Can I somehow claim them on my taxes? If so, up to how much can I claim? Where do I claim them on my taxes?
(I spent about $1,200 on dental tools, and $1,500 on books)

Those are the ones that I do have receipts for. There were more but I didn't have any receipts since I bought them off of prior students.
My husband and I are BIG fans of the Lifetime learning and Hope scholarships :D

Answer 1

Yes you can, but I believe you have to choose between those write-offs or the basic deduction everyone receives. You typically need receipts if you are planning on writing those items off, so hopefully you kept them.

Answer 2

Only qualified tuition fees and expenses (like registration fees, etc.) are accepted as a deduction. These fees and expenses are part of statements given to you at the end of the year by the educational institutions (I think forms 1098).

Deductions are put on Line 35 of the 1040 form. Although the line actually says something like "domestic production", you have to actually write the letter "T" to indicate tuition. I believe the maximum is $4,000. You CANNOT use general expenses such as books and supplies for the DEDUCTION. However these CAN be used for the CREDIT. I'm assuming that you normally take the lifetime learning credit, which does allow you to include this as part of your education expenses.

Note: you can't use both the deduction and the credit, you must take one or the other. But remember a deduction will only decrease your AGI (adjusted gross income, or taxable income). A credit is $ given directly to you (offsetting any tax liability), which means that it would be much more valuable. The 4,000 deduction would lower your tax bracket, but it wouldn't come close to saving you the 2,000 max on the credit. The deduction is really only useful if you fall above the income cap on the lifetime learning credit.

Answer 3

Your school supplies are not deductible, unless you are required to purchase them from the school as a condition of enrollment.

Students receive tax benefits by either claiming the tuition deduction or one of the education credits. In each case the computations to determine the amount of the deduction/credit starts with your qualifying educational expenses.

Qualifying educational expenses do not include books, computers, and other supplies unless they are required to be purchased from the school as a condition of enrollment. That tends to be rare.

Answer 4

Nope, sorry. They could only be eligible for an education credit if you were required to buy them FROM THE SCHOOL as a condition of registering for or attending the classes. Since you bought them from previous students, you were obviously not required to buy them from the school.

Answer 5

You should check with one of those free tax advice lines; but as I understand deductions: if you are in schooling to further your career ( ie you were a dentist & taking classes to learn a new method) or taking classes required for your career (like medical education classes for RNs etc); you can deduct on your itemized form per the IRS rules. If you are just in school to get a career, then , No, no deductions. (but see if the school qualifies for the life time learning credit/deduction).

Answer 6

If you are already working in s dentist's office, then yes you can deduct them on Form 2106 & schedule A as employee business expenses.

If you're attending school and not working, then you can't deduct them.

Answer 7

I would think you could, cause you hear people can for like computers and all kinds of different schooling items....I wouldnt see why not.