Lifetime Learning Credit

[Kram BergGold]

In TTB, pp 12-4 and 12/5, it is clear to claim AOC or Tuition Deduction you must be a high school graduate. What about LLC. Can you claim this for college courses taken before you graduate High School?

[Koss]

Education Credits

The current version of Publication 17 (for 2012 tax returns) makes no reference at all to a high school diploma as a requirement for AOC, Lifetime Learning Credit, or the Tuition and Fees Deduction.

This requirement appeared in earlier versions of Pub. 17 and Pub. 970.

This was the subject of an intense discussion last year. The law has not changed. But it appears that the IRS came to the conclusion that there never was such a requirement.

One post from last year stated that The Tax Institute (a research group run by H&R Block) had published guidance stating that the IRS had "re-interpreted" the law, and that open years could be amended.

Regardless of what degree of confidence you may have in guidance published by HRB, the fact is that throughout all of the discussion last year, no one was able to cite a reference to the Internal Revenue Code, or Treasury Regulations, to support the assertion that a high school diploma (or GED certificate) was ever required.

For AOC, the student must be enrolled in a degree program, and must be enrolled full-time. This has the effect of excluding most people who have not graduated from high school or earned a GED certificate. It doesn't matter whether we are talking about a 17-year old who is taking a college course while also completing his senior year of high school, or about someone who is 28 years old and never finished high school.

Most colleges and universities will not admit a student to a degree program until they have a high school diploma or a GED. But it's not impossible. Most community colleges will allow someone without a high school diploma to take a few courses as a nondegree student. And that won't qualify for the AOC. But if they take some courses as a nondegree student, and demonstrate that they can do the work, they might then be admitted to a degree program without having to get a GED. In that scenario, once the person is admitted to a degree program, they would qualify for the AOC, even though they never got a high school diploma or a GED.

To answer the original question, a high school diploma is not required to claim the Lifetime Learning Credit, or the AOC, or the Tuition and Fees Deduction.

Here's a link to one of the threads from last year:

http://forum.thetaxbook.com/showthread.php?18821-Tuition-and-Fees-Deduction

BMK

[Kram BergGold]

Thanks Burton

Your answer was most helpful.