Online Course for Job Skills Improvement - Deductible? How?

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
June 1, 2019
2 replies
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I took an online course through Coursera (provided by the University of CO Boulder) that cost ~$50, relevant to subject matter for my job. Is this deductible (or even worth the trouble)?

TurboTax Free Edition Online

bwa

Employee

I’m assuming you’re an employee, not self-employed.

It's probably not worth the trouble. It would be an employee business expense. Employee business expenses are a limited deduction. You can claim them only if:

You can itemize deductions, and
they exceed 2% of your adjusted gross income.

If your miscellaneous itemized deductions clearly don't exceed 2% of your adjusted gross income there is no need to go through the time consuming effort to enter them. If they are over 2%, under the deductions and credits tab at the bottom of the list under other deductions and credits. Look for other deductions.

Turbotax explains the 2% rule at this site.

For employee business expenses look under Federal Taxes, then Deductions and Credits, then Explore on My Own, then Employment Expenses (near the bottom.)

bcubed2890Author

Employee

Yes I'm an employee. And that cost is far less than 2% of my gross income - so it sounds like it's 100% not worth the trouble. Thanks so much for this info! (I rarely do more tax stuff than a W2, student loans, and donations.)

MinhT1

As an employee, the online course is not deductible as it is a job-related expense.

Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), the itemized deductions for job-related expenses subject to the 2% of AGI floor are suspended for expenses incurred after December 31, 2017 through 2025.

@bcubed2890

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PHARMD7893

One other question related to Coursera:

I also took a course on this website and wasn't sure if I could use the lifetime learning credit to get the 50$ I paid for the course? Would it depend on the school or would it be no for all schools (see link below):

https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/individuals/llc

KrisD15

The credit is not dollar for dollar, and there are requirements that would need to be met. You can go through the Education Interview to see if you can report the cost.

The school must be an eligible education institute, which means the following:

“Eligible educational institution. An eligible educational institution is generally any accredited public, nonprofit, or proprietary (privately owned profit-making) college, university, vocational school, or other postsecondary educational institution. Also, the institution must be eligible to participate in a student aid program administered by the U.S. Department of Education. Virtually all accredited postsecondary institutions meet this definition.”

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