We have a dual enrollment student who received a 1098-T yesterday and we’re stumped on what to do with it.
Can we legally claim this tuition as a tax credit? Can we also claim all of her books? What kind of documentation do we need for the books (some were purchased from other students at a discounted price)?
She has another year of dual enrollment to do and then two years after high school graduation. She plans to pursue graduate work after getting her Bachelor’s degree. We don’t want to miss any credits that we’re allowed to take.
I did not claim an education credit for my D when she received a 1098T for a dual enrollment clsss.
Because she was not a degree-seeking student.
Other posters had different opinions about this when I posed this question and I searched for other threads here on CC about this, but I was not going to claim a credit when I wasn’t sure I could.
I used the calculator above and it says I can claim the credit, but I’m still uncertain if I should. Thanks for your help. I will probably contact the IRS to make sure it’s okay.
vrmiddle, do you pay the tuition for the dual enrollment? I know at our school it is free, it’s our tax money that follows our student to the college instead of the high school. If you don’t actually pay tuition I wouldn’t think you could claim it. If you do pay then I don’t see why she couldn’t take advantage of the credit.
I saved the AOTC for the full time college years. You can only claim it for 4 years for that student. I claimed the DC tuition(ours is not free!) for the lifetime learning credit.
SeeksKnowledge, we paid a small amount of tuition for our kids to take dual enrollment. Most of it is paid by tax dollars. The biggest cost was the books and I guess that’s the main reason, I want to file for a credit (if we’re eligible).
^ wow our dual enrollment is free, we don’t pay for tuition or books. Unless the kid doesn’t get a passing grade, then you pay…but knock on wood, we’ve not experienced that with any of ours.
AOTC most likely cant be claimed anyways unless the student attends at least halftime and is a degree seeking student.
Unless the IRS says, or you feel qualified to claim one of the other credits, I would just see if your D could resell the books to other students. Maye she could check if renting for one term might be cheaper.
The lifetime learning credit and tuition and fees deduction might apply, but it does not mention books.
You need to refer to Publication 970 for detailed rules.