gkumar wrote:
Thanks for the info Nink. But Nink, where does it say that tax deductions does not apply to FT students who are pursuing an MBA to advance in the same field that they were in pre-MBA? Is this an interpretation of #3? For example, why would an analyst on Wall Street be not able to qualify for tax deductions when pursuing a FT MBA to become an associate or similar?
I was pretty clear about why FT students can't take the deduction after bullet point #3. FT students are not currently working in their current trade or business. They are not WORKING. When it comes to internal revenue code, gross income is interpreted and defined BROADLY while expenses/deductions are defined narrowly. It's just how the law is written.
On top of that, DEDUCTION is not a CREDIT. Credit is a dollar for dollar deduction on your tax bill, while deduction is just a subsidy. For example, if a PT MBA student qualifies for MBA deduction, then he/she is qualified to deduct (portion not paid by employer) his/her tuition as part of Misc deduction with 2% adjusted gross income limit (which means you can deduct only the amount that exceed 2% of your AGI). And before it gets to that, you have to understand that if your MBA tuition for the year cost you $10,000 as PT student and you fall into (say) 20% tax bracket, then the govt is only providing you subsidy for 20% of the tuition, meaning the 80% of the tuition is still coming out of your pocket. On top of that, if you make too much AGI, then none of it would be picked up by the govt because you can only deduct the amount that exceeds 2% of your AGI.
As you can see, the gov't wrote the tax laws so it only applies to specific targeted individuals. Also, if you find a tax preparer who is willing to deduct your MBA tuition (even though it doesn't quite qualify), know that you will be liable for your own tax return for 3 years (statute of limitation), not your tax preparer. (when you get your refund, it means IRS agrees with your math for the tax return. It doesn't mean they audited your tax return and agree that your tax return is correct and etc) That's why you hear all these insane stories about H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt (among others) getting "warned" for their excessive deductions and promises made to their clients. In the end, taxpayer will be liable for his/her tax return. Under the current law, tax preparers are barely reprimanded even though there are proposals to change that.