What Is Form 8917, Tuition and Fees Deduction?

Form 8917, Tuition and Fees Deduction, is a tax form previously used to claim a deduction for qualified higher education expenses, which allowed certain taxpayers to reduce their taxable income. This tax benefit expired for tax years after 2020. The Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2019 had temporarily reinstated the deduction for the 2018, 2019, and 2020 tax years, but it was not extended further. For tax years 2021 and beyond, this deduction was replaced by an expanded Lifetime Learning Credit, which serves a similar purpose but operates as a tax credit rather than a deduction.

Determining Eligibility for the Deduction

To claim the Tuition and Fees Deduction for a tax year in which it was available, such as 2020, a taxpayer had to meet several requirements based on Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI). For the 2020 tax year, a single filer with a MAGI over $80,000, or a married couple filing jointly with a MAGI over $160,000, was ineligible for the deduction. The maximum deduction was $4,000 for those with a MAGI of $65,000 or less ($130,000 for joint filers). The deduction was reduced to $2,000 for those with incomes between $65,001 and $80,000 ($130,001 and $160,000 for joint filers).

Filing status was another condition; individuals using the married filing separately status could not claim this deduction. A taxpayer also could not be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s tax return. This meant that even if a parent was eligible to claim their student child as a dependent but chose not to, the student was still barred from taking the deduction for themselves.

The expenses must have been for an eligible student, which included the taxpayer, their spouse, or a dependent claimed on their return. An eligible student was someone enrolled in one or more courses at a qualified educational institution. These institutions are colleges, universities, or other postsecondary schools eligible to participate in a student aid program administered by the U.S. Department of Education.

Information Needed to Complete Form 8917

To complete Form 8917, you needed to gather specific documents. The form requires the name and taxpayer identification number for each student for whom expenses were paid. You also need the name and address of the eligible educational institution the student attended.

Form 1098-T, Tuition Statement, which educational institutions issue to students, is a document for this process. This form reports the total amount of payments received for qualified tuition and related expenses. While the amount on Form 1098-T is a starting point, the deduction is based on the amount of qualified expenses you actually paid during the year. You should use your own payment records, such as receipts or bank statements, to confirm the exact amounts paid.

Qualified education expenses are limited to tuition and fees required for enrollment or attendance at an eligible educational institution. This includes mandatory lab fees, student activity fees, and costs for course materials that must be purchased directly from the institution. Expenses that do not qualify include:

• Room and board
• Student health insurance
• Medical expenses
• Transportation and similar personal living costs

Books and supplies purchased from a campus bookstore or other vendor are not deductible unless the school required them to be bought from the institution as a condition of enrollment.

How to File Form 8917

Form 8917 is not a standalone document and must be attached to the taxpayer’s main tax return. For the 2020 tax year, this was Form 1040 or Form 1040-SR for seniors.

The final deduction amount from Form 8917 was transferred to Schedule 1 of Form 1040. For the 2020 tax year, the deduction amount was entered on line 21 of Schedule 1. This is an “above-the-line” deduction that adjusts a taxpayer’s gross income.

For taxpayers filing a paper return, a physical copy of the completed Form 8917 was included with the mailed Form 1040 and all other required forms. For those using tax software to e-file, the software would automatically generate Form 8917 based on the user’s input and transmit it electronically as part of the complete tax return.