<p>My grandmother said she had heard if she wrote a check directly to the school, she would get a tax deduction. That kind of sounds funny but she insists -any comments?</p>
<p>I am not sure but I don't think so. There are tax deductions and credits for Tuition/fees deductions but most are for students or parents (or whoever claims the student as a dependent). From the publication 970 about tuition fees tax deduction:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Generally, you can claim the tuition and fees deduction if all three of the following requirements are met.</p>
<ol>
<li>You pay qualified education expenses of higher education</li>
<li>You pay the education expenses for an eligible student.</li>
<li>The eligible student is yourself, your spouse, or your dependent for whom you claim an exemption on your tax return.
[/quote]
</li>
</ol>
<p><a href="http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p970.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p970.pdf</a></p>
<p>She should check with a tax expert</p>
<p>I think she may have misunderstood. What I think she heard is that if she writes the check directly to the school, it doesn't count towards the gift tax. If she give the money to you, it does.</p>
<p>But no, it's not tax deductible if she pays your tuition.</p>
<p>3bm103 is correct; if Grandma wants to transfer $ while alive to make sure there is no estate tax on her death; she can only give $12,000 to any one person without having to file a gift tax return. BUT if she writes a check for $50,000 to your school for annual tuition, that doesn't count. More of a tax advantage than a tax deduction. Your grandma rocks!</p>