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An increasing number of older individuals are going back to school to: improve their job skills; qualify for advancement within their place of employment; bring home higher paychecks; or just because learning more improves the quality and joy of life.We all know education costs money and tuition is often expensive. So, can you make up some of the expense by getting a deduction for your educational expenses? Well, that depends. Let's look a little deeper.First of all, you must itemize deductions on your tax return, rather than take the standard deduction. Itemizing deductions has become more difficult because the standard deduction has risen.Second, you can deduct only those qualified educational and other "miscellaneous" expenses that exceed 2% of your adjusted gross income (AGI). Miscellaneous expenses include the cost of looking for a new job, unreimbursed business outlays, and so forth. (Your AGI is your income excluding any tax-free income, minus outlays such as contributions to retirement plans.)Deducting expenses for education, however, is not out of the question. The rules state that you can deduct these expenses if the schooling enables you to keep your job and salary, or maintains or improves the skills you need in your current job. There is no deduction, however, if the schooling helps you get a new job or switch careers.Your deductions must be for courses at an educational institution that has a regularly enrolled student body and maintains a regular faculty and curriculum. In addition, the schooling must be linked with your "carrying on a trade or business" in which you are already active, and must be closely related to your current job skills. For instance, an accountant can write off courses that explain new tax rules, and a professional pianist can write off music lessons.Educational expenses that qualify an individual for a promotion may also be allowed. The general rule is that if an individual changes duties, it is not a career change, so long as that individual remains in the same line of work.Enhancing your job skills is worthwhile, regardless of whether you can get a tax break. However, if your education expenses do qualify, keeping proper records will be the best way to support your tax deductions, in case you are audited.
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