| Thanks to a last minute effort by Congress in | | | | also claiming a deduction for 'Domestic |
| December, President Bush extended the Tuition | | | | production activities,' they must also write |
| and Fees Deduction for one more year. | | | | in a 'B' and "attach a breakdown showing the |
| However, while the opportunity has been | | | | amounts claimed for each deduction. |
| viewed as a yearlong Christmas present for | | | | |
| some of the 4.7 million families with | | | | According to an IRS spokesman, Publication |
| students in college, for many - all that | | | | 600, which explains in detail how to take the |
| glitter won't produce any gold! | | | | Sales Tax Deduction, will be mailed to the |
| | | | 3.5 million households who took it last year. |
| As luck would have it, the Tax Relief and | | | | However, this document makes no mention of |
| Health Care Act of 2006, which revived the | | | | how to take the deduction for educator |
| Tuition and Fees Deduction, has three | | | | expenses (on Line 23 write in 'E'), and |
| roadblocks obstructing taxpayers: | | | | noticeably absent is any reference to the |
| | | | subject in question. |
| 1. For those who are eligible to take the | | | | |
| deduction, there is nothing on the 1040 | | | | As usual, misinformation is rampant as |
| indicating how or where to take it; | | | | demonstrated by this quote from an AP story: |
| | | | "The IRS said the deduction for tuition and |
| 2. Those unaware of it, and most families | | | | fees can be claimed on Form 1040, line 35, |
| are, will miss the opportunity entirely; and | | | | 'Domestic production activities deduction,' |
| | | | by entering 'T' on the dotted line to the |
| 3. Hundreds of thousands of taxpayers who | | | | left of that line." |
| previously took or will take the deduction | | | | |
| would save substantially more by taking an | | | | Regrettably, there are no dotted lines for |
| Education Credit instead! | | | | Line 35 - they're on Line 34 and Line 36! |
| | | | And with 4.7 million families affected, there |
| For a taxpayer to actually take the | | | | is no way to guarantee that everyone who is |
| deduction, they must physically write in a | | | | entitled to a deduction will actually receive |
| 'T' on Line 35 of the 1040, and if they are | | | | it. |