As summer begins to draw to a close, students of all ages are preparing to head back to school, and parents are shelling out money for everything from school supplies to tuition and fees. This presents a great opportunity to summarize the various education-related tax benefits that are in place for these and other expenses. Even though this benefit won’t be seen until tax time, it’s nice to know all this spending may result in some tax breaks.
Minnesota K-12 Expenses
Minnesota offers two different benefits for K-12 expenses; a subtraction (deduction) from income, and a credit against tax.
The subtraction allows for up to $1,625 of K-6 expenses and $2,500 of 7-12 expenses per child to be deducted from income before calculating Minnesota tax. Some of the items allowed for the subtraction are listed below, though this is not a complete list.
- Private school tuition
- Fees for all-day Kindergarten
- Music lessons
- Tuition for summer camps which are primarily academic in focus, such as fine arts or language
For some, claiming a credit against tax would provide a greater benefit. The credit is allowed for those with incomes between $37,500 and $43,500, depending on the number of children in the household. In this case, the same expenses above that qualify for the subtraction qualify for the credit, with the exception of private school tuition.
As always, we’re here to help with areas like this, as we have been for nearly 40 years.