Education Credit

[KWF]

In preparation for seeking 4 year college degree, a dependant high school student takes a college level class at the local junior college so as to complete it early and eliminate the need to take the class once in college.

Would the jr college tuition expense qualify for the Lifetime Learning Credit on parents tax return?

[dtlee]

Publication 970 is the best source on 4/15

My take on this is that it is not eligible for Lifetime Learning since that requires that the course be part of a degree program or to acquire or improve job skills. You did not say if the student had entered a degree program, so my assumption is that he had not.

There are lots of opinions on this forum as to what "acquire or improve job skills" means or what it means to have a course be "part of a degree program."

You don't seem to care about these answers, but here are some more of my opinions:

• If the student is in a degree program by the end of the tax year, you might be able to include these costs as part of the American Opportunity Credit.
• It seems to me that the only similar benefit you should be claiming the Tuition and Fees Deduction for these expenses.

[Gary2]

My take on this is that it is not eligible for Lifetime Learning since that requires that the course be part of a degree program or to acquire or improve job skills. You did not say if the student had entered a degree program, so my assumption is that he had not.

There's no requirement that the student be enrolled in a degree program, only that the course be part of one. If it's a college level course, it seems likely to be part of a degree program. The fact that a high school student has been permitted to enroll in the course, without being enrolled as a degree candidate, doesn't matter.

See Table 3-1 in Pub. 970, under "Type of degree required."

[Kram BergGold]

Lifetime Learinng Credit depends

To claim LLC the student has to be a high scholl graduate or the course has to acquire or improve job skills. So in yoru case the student would have to have graduated high school before takuig the couse.

[DonPriebe]

To claim LLC the student has to be a high scholl graduate or the course has to acquire or improve job skills. So in yoru case the student would have to have graduated high school before takuig the couse.

That is incorrect according to Pub 970. The Tuition Deduction requires that an eligible student be a high school graduate or GED; the Lifetime Learning and/or American Opportinity Credit does not. Specifically for the LLC the pub says ...

For purposes of the lifetime learning credit, an eligible
student is a student who is enrolled in one or more courses
at an eligible educational institution (as defined under
Qualified Education Expenses, earlier).

So if I take ART 307 (Appreciation of the Nude) from My Local College, I qualify for the LLC even if I have a degree in Art History, or never made it out of eighth grade, or have a felony drug conviction.

[dtlee]

The Tuition Deduction requires that an eligible student be a high school graduate or GED

The IRS no longer considers this to be true in their instructions and the latest Publication 970.

I am still rethinking my position on the Lifetime Learning Credit. Origianally, I understood it as Gary2 has stated. Subsequently, someone changed my mind rather forcefully (I believe it was on this forum quite a few years ago).

Still, I think the requirement that the IRS originally mistook for applying to the Tuition Deduction may actually apply to the credits if you read the code deeply enough. This is something I will spend some time with this summer.

[RitaB]

That class

So if I take ART 307 (Appreciation of the Nude) from My Local College, I qualify for the LLC even if I have a degree in Art History, or never made it out of eighth grade, or have a felony drug conviction.

That class always fills up here. And it's usually eighth grade felons, too. Go figure.

But you should see the little stick figures they draw on their tax forms.

[David1980]

http://www.irs.gov/faqs/faq/0,,id=199794,00.html