Feature Articles: Taxes
Deduction for Educator Expenses
Reviewed and used with special permission from the IRS by: Brenda Procter, M.S., State Specialist & Instructor, Personal Financial Planning, University of Missouri Extension
If you are an eligible educator, you may be able to
deduct up to $250 of expenses you paid for purchases of
books and classroom supplies. These out-of-pocket
expenses may lower your 2008 tax bill even if you don’t
itemize your deductions.
Eligible Educator: The
deduction is available if you are an eligible educator
in a public or private elementary or secondary school.
To be eligible, you must work at least 900 hours during
a school year as a teacher, instructor, counselor,
principal or aide.
Qualifying Expenses: You may subtract up to $250 of qualified expenses when figuring your adjusted gross income. Qualified expenses are unreimbursed expenses you paid for books, supplies, computer equipment (including related software and services) and supplementary materials that you use in the classroom. For courses in health and physical education, expenses for supplies are qualified expenses only if they are related to athletics.
To be deductible, the qualified expenses must be more
than the interest on qualified U.S. savings bonds that
you excluded from income because you paid qualified
higher education expenses, any distribution from a
qualified tuition program that you excluded from income,
and any tax-free withdrawals from your Coverdell
Education savings account.
You can find more information on Educator Expenses in
IRS Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax, under
Chapter 19, Education Related Adjustments, which is
available on the IRS Web site at
IRS.gov or by calling
1-800-TAX-FORM (1-800-829-3676).
Source: IRS Tax Tip 2008-52
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Last update: Tuesday, May 05, 2009
