Online Courses and F 2441

[erchess]

From the instructions:
Your spouse was a full-time student if he or she was enrolled as a full-time student at a school during any 5 months of 2011. A school does not include an on-the-job training course, correspondence school, or a school offering courses only through the Internet.

My question concerns online courses - am I right that the determining factor is whether the school offers some face to face courses and not whether the student is taking any?

Also are the rules the same for claiming education credits?

[Burke]

From the instructions:
Your spouse was a full-time student if he or she was enrolled as a full-time student at a school during any 5 months of 2011. A school does not include an on-the-job training course, correspondence school, or a school offering courses only through the Internet.

My question concerns online courses - am I right that the determining factor is whether the school offers some face to face courses and not whether the student is taking any?

Also are the rules the same for claiming education credits?

1. Sounds like it.
2. See TTB page 12-4 re: accredited post secondary institutions eligible to participate in student aid program from Dept of Education. Also, for education credit must be enrolled in a degree program.

[erchess]

Lifetime Learning Credit

originally student did not have to be in a degree program. Has that changed and if so when?

I'm considering studies for the State and Local Tax Certificate from the Univerisity of Wisconsin - Milwaukee and or the Masters in Tax program at Howard Taft University. Both programs are entirely online although UWM is primarily a bricks and mortar institution with some online courses while HTU is entirely online except for testing which takes place at regional centers around the country and for a small extra fee can even occur in the student's home. I have found out that student loans and government grants are not available but I had been under the impression I could get the limited benefit of the LLC.

[taxea]

I don't believe online matters as long as the school is acredited etc

[Burke]

originally student did not have to be in a degree program. Has that changed and if so when?.

This applies to AOC/Hope credits. Lifetime Learning credit must be degree program OR to improve job skills. T&F deduction does not appear to have this requirement. OP did not specify which credit question was applying to.

[Koss]

Child Care Credit

The original post refers to Form 2441.

And I don't think it's a typo.

Fascinating question, if I'm interpreting it correctly.

Normally, to take the child care credit, you either have to be a single parent, or both spouses have to be working. Otherwise, why would you need child care? This is one of just a few sections of the tax code that actually makes sense.

But you can also take the child care credit if one spouse is working and the other one is a student. So the question is:

Dad works full-time, while Mom goes to school. Mom is taking online courses from a school that also offers regular classroom courses.

Assuming that all other criteria are met, can they take the child tax credit?

My answer is a resounding yes.

Today's online courses are just as rigorous, if not more so, than traditional classroom courses. Whether Mom is doing the coursework at home or at the local public library, or at a Starbucks Coffeehouse is irrelevant. The point is that she needs uninterrupted time away from the child in order to go to school. That time might be at home, in a bedroom or den, with the door closed, while someone cares for the child. Or it might be time spent reading a textbook, in traditional paper format, while sitting on a bench at a public park. Or it might be time spent in a traditional classroom.

Parallel question:

What if Mom works from home? Same issue. The best example would be if she works as a remote customer service rep or tech support rep, where she takes incoming calls from customers, using a computer provided by her employer. She cannot take care of a child while doing that kind of work. But it doesn't matter. She could be self employed, or she could be a an attorney or CPA with a large firm that allows her to "telecommute." The principles are the same. You can't work and take care of child at the same time. And you can't go to school and take care of a child at the same time, either.

So she gets the child care credit, even for a course that is taken online. As long as the school also offers classroom courses.

BMK

[Lion]

Op

The OP also asked if the rules for 2441/parent as student were the same as for education credits.

[erchess]

And as Burke pointed out

OP did not specify which education credit it was interested in even though surely every tax pro knows that there are currently two of them and they have rules that differ from each other and the T & F Deduction.