college tuition:IRS income tax deduction question

<p>I understand that college tuition and fees are tax deductible items. The simplest thing may be to deduct it wholly from the parents income. However, suppose we want the deduction to be done both on our income and on my son's income, for instance 70% deducted from our income and 30% from our son's income. It's a long story, but I believe that there is a point to be made in our case for this kind of plan. </p>

<p>How do we do that? Can we decide next April whether and how to divide the deduction? Or, should we set things up differently well in advance, such as, send two checks to the college for tuition, one check written by us, and another check written by my son, according to the amount we want to claim deduction on us and the son?</p>

<p>This is our first son, so we are all really ignorant about things like this. Your advice will be greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>You can only deduct up to $4000 as long as your family income is less than $160K.
[Publication</a> 970 (2008), Tax Benefits for Education](<a href=“Publication 970 (2023), Tax Benefits for Education | Internal Revenue Service”>Publication 970 (2023), Tax Benefits for Education | Internal Revenue Service)</p>

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<p>Honestly, I was not aware that college tuition was tax deductible. Your post got me all excited. But then I did some searching on the internet and came up with the following, from About.com:</p>

<p>The maximum amount of tuition and fees deduction you can claim is $4,000 per year. If your income is over $65,000 but under $80,000 (unmarried), then the maximum amount you can deduct is $2,000. For married couples filing a joint return, the phaseout range is over $130,000 but under $160,000. For income over these limits, you do not qualify to take the tuition and fees deduction.</p>

<p>Linke below:</p>

<p>[Tuition</a> and Fees Tax Deduction](<a href=“http://taxes.about.com/od/deductionscredits/qt/tuitionfeesded.htm]Tuition”>The Tuition and Fees Tax Deduction)</p>

<p>Hopefully other more knowledgeable people can give more authoritative advice?</p>

<p>Edit: Crossposted with above.</p>

<p>You cannot do that. To deduct it from your income you must be claiming him as a dependent on your tax return. If you are claiming him as a dependent then you can claim tuition and fees (and may also be eligible for the relevant tax credits). To deduct it on his taxes no one else can be able to claim him as a dependent. Only then can he be eligible for the tuition/fees deduction or other relevant tax credits. He *cannot *take the deduction if he can be claimed as a dependent by someone else (you). You *cannot *take the deduction if you cannot claim him.</p>

<p>The IRS publication for tax education benefits is IRS 970</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p970.pdf[/url]”>http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p970.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>best thing to do is buy turbotax or another similar tax program; it will figure out the best tax situation for you… it might be better to take the hope credit or lifetime learning one…</p>

<p>You can not split the tuition deduction or credits between two returns. Whichever return claims the student on it gets the whole thing.</p>

<p>I think a lot of people assume that college tuition/fees/expenses can be deducted in entirety and look forward to a huge deduction but it’s not the case as the others above have said. After seeing the amounts that might be able to be deducted depending on your income level the idea of splitting the deduction, even if it were possible to do, becomes not so significant.</p>

<p>Make sure you factor this inability to deduct into the affordibility of the college chosen.</p>

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<p>NO they are not deductible expenses. If your child is a dependent and you are paying the college bills, you might be eligible for up to $4000 deduction depending on your income. </p>

<p>I agree with others…get a tax prep software…or go to an accountant. Either way, they will maximize your deduction for college purposes.</p>

<p>In no event is the entire cost of attending college a deductible expense. Who told you that?</p>

<p>VP, there are a variety of tax deductions, credits, and qualified plans which cover a range of expenses and income levels. Some of them can be combined to result in greater tax savings as long as you’re not counting the same expenses twice. There’s a pretty handy chart here for a quick overview:
[FinAid</a> | Saving for College | Education Tax Benefit Coordination](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid)</p>

<p>Thumper, perhaps you mean that tuition is not deductible on schedule A. But a for-AGI deduction is available (up to $4000 for 2008) as people have said.</p>

<p>Greenblue, yes, that is correct. The FULL COST OF ATTENDANCE is not a deductible expense on the tax return. The OP said they “understood it was”. It is NOT.</p>

<p>Also, the new “American Opportunity Tax Credit” will be available for 2009 & 2010, which will revise the old “Hope Credit”. Up to $2500.00 Tax Credit if you qualify-married, filing jointly, you must make under $160K & student must be your dependent. </p>

<p>Consult with your tax professional about this for the tax year 2009. I work for a CPA and he usually does a few different scenarios for his clients to see which way is to their advantage: The Tuition & Fees Deduction or the Education Tax Credits. Usually a Tax Credit is more beneficial as it reduces the amount of the federal income tax you owe.</p>

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Only for the parent to claim it. If the student claims him/herself as an exemption on their taxes then he/she can claim the credit. (at least that was the case with the Hope and I have not seen anything different about the American opp).</p>

<p>I assumed the OP was the parent, from the wording of his/her post & so responded. </p>

<p>H & I will no doubt have a problem with one who just graduated as to whether or not she will be our dependent for 2009. I can’t imagine that she will make enough money to want to claim herself! Indeed, she doesn’t even have a job yet, like so many others. LOL</p>

<p>Certainly if she gets a job, it would probably save us a lot of money if she was our dependent & we got an Education Tax Credit & if she owed any income taxes, we could pay them.</p>

<p>well one should check individual states deduction eligibility on top of the Hope credit etc. NY state residents can deduct up to 10,000 of tuition per year on their state income taxes if they itemize, or a percentage of income if they don’t.</p>

<p>:eek: I wish they had that in our State!!! My kids paid more in State taxes than they did in federal (after tax credits which wiped out their federal tax liability).</p>

<p>Anyone paying full fare could pretty much forget about it.</p>

<p>We will let our just graduated son claim himself this year for the first time…and HE will get the college credit (whatever one he gets). Since he is considered a contracted self employed worker, this will help him with his taxes far more than it will help us.</p>

<p>We just found out yesterday from our accountant that because we didn’t claim my step-son that we can’t deduct the college tuition/expenses we paid for him this year, which sucks. It is now causing us to owe taxes this year. I don’t know why the IRS guidelines don’t make exceptions for divorced parents (we are splitting the costs equally with his mom, but we end up getting screwed because she is the only one that can claim him). Is there no way around this?</p>

<p>No. There is no way around it. Unless you can convince the other parent to share with you what their benefit is.</p>