Adjustments and deductions

How To Deduct Education Expenses

2 min read

Education expenses and self-employment

If you’re self-employed, you can deduct the cost of education for your trade or business on Schedule C. You must be able to prove that the course:

Maintains or improves skills you need in your trade or business
Is required by law or regulation for keeping your license to practice in your trade or profession

You can’t deduct education expenses you incur:

This is true even if the education maintains or improves skills currently required in your business.

Allowable expenses

You can deduct:

Tuition, books, and fees
Equipment and other expenses associated with obtaining the education — Ex: You can deduct research and typing expenses you incur while writing a paper for a class.
Transportation expenses — You can deduct the cost of travel between your workplace and the school. If you return to work after class, you can deduct round-trip expenses. You can also deduct public transportation costs.

You can’t deduct:

Travel as a form of education — Ex: A Spanish teacher who takes a trip to Spain to improve her knowledge of the Spanish language can’t deduct her travel expenses.
Dollar value of vacation time or annual leave you took to attend classes

Many deductible job-related education expenses might qualify for other education credits or deductions. These include:

Look at the tax savings of each method to maximize the benefit on your return.

To learn more about education expenses, see these at www.irs.gov:

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