Education Credits

Time Requirement: 60 minutes

Purpose

This covers tax credits available to help the taxpayer offset the costs of higher education by reducing the amount of income tax.

Objectives

• Who qualifies for an education credit
• Which credit the taxpayer can claim

Teaching the Lesson

Refer to the Lesson Plan for helpful instructor notes, visual aids, TaxSlayer® demos, and Internet links. Prompt students to share what they know about education credits.

Refer students who may want to work independently to Publication 4491, Education Credits.

Key References

This lesson refers to the following publications and forms:

• Form 13614-C, Page 2, Part IV
• Pub 4012, Education Benefits tab

All references to materials can be found by clicking Job Aids and Media buttons. There are also links to helpful tools that can be found on the irs.gov public portal. For this lesson, the student can link to the following sites for additional help:

• Education Credits - AOTC and LLC
• American Opportunity Credit
• Searchable database of all accredited schools

TaxSlayer® Demos and Tutorials

It is recommended to go to the Practice Lab and access the latest TaxSlayer tutorial for this lesson. The TaxSlayer tutorials can be found by going to the Practice Lab and clicking the link for TaxSlayer IRS training.

Publication 4012, Education Benefits tab, includes how to enter education credits in TaxSlayer.