Now that kids are back in college, let’s look at two tax breaks for education. Distributions from 529 plans used for college are tax-free. Eligible expenses include the cost of room and board for students enrolled at a college or university at least half-time, tuition, books, supplies, fees, computers and internet access. Funds can be withdrawn tax-free to cover off-campus housing, food and utilities, but the distribution can’t exceed the room and board allowance the college includes in the cost of attendance. You should be able to get this from the school’s website.
The American Opportunity Tax Credit is worth up to $2,500 per student for each of the first four years of college. This break starts to phase out for joint filers with modified adjusted gross incomes above $160,000…$80,000 for single filers and household heads…and ends when modified AGI tops $180,000 and $90,000. The student must be in school at least half-time, and eligible expenses include tuition, books and required fees, but not the cost of room and board.
Coordinating these two education tax breaks can be somewhat tricky because you cannot use the same college expenses for both benefits. For example, if you take $8,000 from a 529 plan for tuition, you can’t also use that same $8,000 as a qualifying education expense in figuring your American Opportunity Tax Credit.
Feel free to reach out to our team if you have questions.