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Tax Breaks for Education

A group of tax benefits are available to those who are pursuing higher education for themselves, their spouse, or their dependents.

In this section we'll describe the similarities and differences between:

In most cases, you have to choose among these benefits, since the same student is not permitted to use two different education tax breaks in the same year.

Warning

You cannot claim the American Opportunity Credit or the Lifetime Learning Credit on a married, filing separately, return.

Save Money

For each student, in any given year you can only take advantage of one of the following: American Opportunity credit or Lifetime Learning credit.

For those who qualify, the American Opportunity credit will generally save you the most tax money. If you don't qualify, the Lifetime Learning credit is generally the next-best tax break. For those who have recently graduated, the student-loan interest deduction provides a measure of relief.

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