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education credits

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Furfud

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? CO

I made a big mistake on filing my taxes this year. While E-filing this past Saturday I claimed the Hope education credit, thinking I was eligible, then two days later I received a letter from my school claiming not only that I was only eligible for the Lifetime Learning Credit (not the Hope), but I had wrongly calculated my tuition expenses by close to $800. I realize I was really careless, and I should have looked into the Hope credit a bit more than what HRblock.com had briefly stated what qualifies. I'm just really worried that I might get in trouble for this. What should I do?
 


E

efflandt

Senior Member
File form 1040X (ammended return) with just any forms related to changes, before the required filing date in April if you would owe any additional tax. If you wait any longer than that and owe tax, there would be a penalty.
 
LdiJ

LdiJ

Senior Member
Furfud said:
What is the name of your state? CO

I made a big mistake on filing my taxes this year. While E-filing this past Saturday I claimed the Hope education credit, thinking I was eligible, then two days later I received a letter from my school claiming not only that I was only eligible for the Lifetime Learning Credit (not the Hope), but I had wrongly calculated my tuition expenses by close to $800. I realize I was really careless, and I should have looked into the Hope credit a bit more than what HRblock.com had briefly stated what qualifies. I'm just really worried that I might get in trouble for this. What should I do?
Click to expand...
Sorry, but this post is bogus. Schools do not comment or make determinations on whether or not someone is eligible for the Hope or the Lifetime credits. They cannot, because its not their call to make.

All that schools do is provide the appropriate 1098 form. However it is possible that someone could make a mistake on how much the actually spent out of pocket in tuition and fees. If that happened amending the return would be the appropriate solution.
 
F

Furfud

Junior Member
Can I amend to change to the correct education credit even though my initial financial expenses were incorrect? Thanks for the reply too.
 
F

Furfud

Junior Member
LdiJ said:
Sorry, but this post is bogus. Schools do not comment or make determinations on whether or not someone is eligible for the Hope or the Lifetime credits. They cannot, because its not their call to make.

All that schools do is provide the appropriate 1098 form. However it is possible that someone could make a mistake on how much the actually spent out of pocket in tuition and fees. If that happened amending the return would be the appropriate solution.
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No, this is a legitimate post. The school itself did not outright tell me I couldn't take the Hope credit (sorry for the wording). What they did tell me was I was not a half-time student, which I thought I was. Being that, the Hope credit is only eligible for half-time to full-time students.
 
LdiJ

LdiJ

Senior Member
Furfud said:
Can I amend to change to the correct education credit even though my initial financial expenses were incorrect? Thanks for the reply too.
Click to expand...
Of course you can amend, and if you pay back any excess refund you received prior to April 15th there won't even be any penalties.

However, if you are for real then I suggest that you use a tax professional to handle the amendment. Amendments are NOT DIY projects. They are complicated as heck to do by hand, and as far as I know there isn't any consumer software cheaply available to handle amendments.
 
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