American Opportunity Credit for Deluxe Upgrade

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
March 18, 2021
1 reply
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Hi all,

I am filling 2020 taxes and have the American Opportunity Credit. Different from the last year, they ask me to upgrade to Deluxe as I have the AOTC. However, when I filed taxes last year where I had the almost same conditions with the AOTC applied, I could use the free TurboTax to file my taxes.

Doesn't the free version cover form 8863 which includes education credit as well?

Do people who have the AOTC qualified have to use the upgraded version to file?

BillM223

I cannot speak to prior years, but the current TurboTax Online products support form 8863 only with Deluxe and up. See Tax Forms.

Personally, I doubt that the Free Edition supported the 8863 last year, either.

However, there are two Free offerings from TurboTax: Free Edition and IRS Freefile delivered by TurboTax. The Free Edition handles only the simplest of returns, and it is not uncommon for forms to require an upgrade. IRS Freefile delivered by TurboTax supports all forms, but you have to qualify to be able to use it.

Did you perhaps use Freefile last year?

If you meet the qualifications, you may be able to use the IRS Freefile as delivered by TurboTax, a free filing service provided by TurboTax in partnership with the IRS.

Please see this TurboTax webpage which explains the difference between the IRS program and the TurboTax Free Edition product.

If you think you qualify for the IRS Freefile program (see the links), start with this link - this is a separate link from the TurboTax Free edition.

As for why you did not have to upgrade last year but you did this year, my guess is that if you looked at last year's return, you actually did not take the AOC so no 8863, but on your current return, you do have form 8863.

See if that is the case.

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