Form 8917 – Educational Fees And Tuition
The function of Form 8917 is to claim educational expenses, fees and tuition. It is typically submitted along with Form 1040 or Form 1040A. Taxpayers also have the option of using the Hope or LIfetime education credits.
You may be able to deduct a portion or all of the tuition or fees if you, your spouse or any of your dependents enroll in a post secondary school, e.g. college, university or trade school.
The deduction reported on Form 8917 is a direct adjustment to your income, therefore itemizing deductions is not a factor.
A major limitation is that there is a limit to your deduction, which is $4,000 for 2011. Pay more than this and the excess cannot be carried forward.
Also, you won’t be eligible for the deduction if your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) exceeds $80,000 ($160,000 if filed jointly).
There are further limitations as to which taxpayer can claim this deduction and they include :
* Your filing status is Married Filing Separately.
* Taking both an education credit (Form 8863) and the tuition and fees deduction (Form 8917) for the same student for the same year is NOT allowed.
* You are not eligible for the deduction if another person can claim you as an exemption (dependent) on his or her tax return.
even if said person does not actually claim that exemption.
* You were a nonresident alien for any part of the year and did not elect to be treated as a resident alien for tax purposes.
The student must attend educational program that is eligible to participate in the federal student aid program, meaning that the student is required to have earned a high school diploma or GED before enrolling.
The school will send you Form 1098-T to report your annual fees and tuition and this is the ONLY amount you are allowed to deduct. Room, board, books, living expenses and such are disallowed.
In other words, this deduction was designed for the middle class, not for the 1%.