high school student with 1098T

[Safire]

My brain is fried.

Does this qualify for lifetime education credit? Then they would get Hope, when she actually starts college, or does it have to be after high school because of the term postsecondary?

Thanks in advance. Two more weeks to go, thank God.

[KBTS]

Lifetime Learning Credit

It should qualify....

From the IRS website:

Is an education credit available for the cost of a high school student taking college classes before graduation from high school?

The cost of college classes taken while a student is attending high school may qualify for the education tax credit if the requirement for the credit are met.

[Safire]

Thank you so much. I thought I could give them the credit but I just cannot concentrate this morning. I think I spent too many brain cells on stuff like depletion and DPAD and there's nothing left for the simple things.

[Nashville]

Waste Hope Credit

I'm hoping you are allowed to use "Lifetime" credit and are not forced to use "Hope" credit.

Can only take Hope credit for two years, and a shame to waste one of them when very little college costs were expended.

[travis bickle]

the amount of

I'm hoping you are allowed to use "Lifetime" credit and are not forced to use "Hope" credit.

Can only take Hope credit for two years, and a shame to waste one of them when very little college costs were expended.

qualified expenses that are allowed when calculating the Hope credit [$2,200] is so pitifully slight that it almost does not matter

[BOB W]

NOT ALLOWED....... Must be for post High School graduate.............

In addition, must be at least a half time college student to qualify for Hope Credit.

[LCP]

What's not allowed......... Hope, Lifetime, deduction or all three.

I also wanted to point out that it isn't uncommon for the high school to actually pay that tuition rather than the student or his/her family.

[KBTS]

The Hope credit and Tuition and Fees Deduction are not allowed. The student must have a GED or high school diploma to qualify for the Tuition and Fees. They must be at least half time in a degree program to qualify for the Hope credit.

[dtlee]

I know this response is quite late, but I have been researching this quite a bit since the end of the tax season.

There was a time when it appeared that the Lifetime Learning Credit was allowed for a high school student. I no longer agree with that assessment. In 2002, they changed the phrasing in publication 970 to say that the Lifetime Learning Credit can be claimed for courses that are "either part of a postsecondary degree program, or taken by the student to acquire or improve job skills."

This basically matches what is in the regulations:
Reg §1.25A-4(c)(1)In general. For purposes of the Lifetime Learning Credit, amounts paid for a course at an eligible educational institution are qualified tuition and related expenses if the course is either part of a postsecondary degree program or is not part of a postsecondary degree program but is taken by the student to acquire or improve job skills.

I have covered these points with the NATP and they agree that the regulations exclude the Lifetime Learning Credit from being claimed in the case of a high school student who is not yet in a degree program at a postsecondary school.

As an aside, here are the regulations for the Hope Credit:
Reg §1.25A-3(d)(1)(i)Degree requirement. For at least one academic period that begins during the taxable year, the student enrolls at an eligible educational institution in a program leading toward a postsecondary degree, certificate, or other recognized postsecondary educational credential;

This basically would indicate that if the high school student graduated and then was enrolled in a degree program in the fall, the costs of the college courses taken earlier in the year while in high school would become eligible for the Hope Credit.

[erchess]

Deil's Advocate Here

Where is the language specifying that the STUDENT rather than the COURSE must be part of a recognized degree or credential program? I'm sure that nearly all courses at an institution can be made part (if only as electives) of most of the degree and certificate programs offered by the institution. And if the course is part of such a credential, who is to say that the high school student will not in time pursue it?

[dtlee]

Where is the language specifying that the STUDENT rather than the COURSE must be part of a recognized degree or credential program? I'm sure that nearly all courses at an institution can be made part (if only as electives) of most of the degree and certificate programs offered by the institution. And if the course is part of such a credential, who is to say that the high school student will not in time pursue it?

Interesting perspective.

I believe they are saying that the course they are taking must be in such a program but I could accept your argument to the contrary based on the wording.

However, the examples in the preamble to the regulations indicate it is how it taken by the student, not the usage of the course within the college or university itself that matters. Here is just one example they used:

One commentator noted that, under the definition of a hobby course in § 1.25A–2(d)(5) of the proposed regulations, one student may be enrolled in a course to receive academic credit toward a degree, another student may be enrolled in the same course on a noncredit basis to acquire or improve job skills, while a third student may be enrolled in the same course as a hobby. Under the proposed regulations, the first and second students may be eligible to claim an education tax credit, but the third student is not. Consistent with sections 25A(c)(2) and 25A(f)(1)(B), the final regulations continue to provide that expenses paid for courses that involve sports, games, or hobbies, or any noncredit course, are not qualified expenses, unless the course is part of the individual’s degree program, or, in the case of the Lifetime Learning Credit, the student takes the course to acquire or improve job skills.

Example 1. Taxpayer A, a professional photographer, enrolls in an advanced photography course at a local community college. Although the course is not part of a degree program, Taxpayer A enrolls in the course to improve her job skills. The course fee paid by Taxpayer A is a qualified tuition and related expense for purposes of the Lifetime Learning Credit.

Example 2. Taxpayer B, a stockbroker, plans to travel abroad on a ‘‘photo-safari’’for his next vacation. In preparation for the trip, Taxpayer B enrolls in a noncredit photography class at a local community college. Because Taxpayer B is not taking the photography course as part of a degree program or to acquire or improve his job skills, amounts paid by Taxpayer B for the course are not qualified tuition and related expenses for purposes of the Lifetime Learning Credit.