09.04.05
education tax breaks
Many don’t use education tax breaks
– reported by the Associated Press at the Houston Chronicle
Confused by multiple deductions, credits and savings accounts that help pay for college, students and their families miss out on hundreds of dollars in tax benefits, a government report said Monday.
The Government Accountability Office, an independent arm of Congress that studies government programs and spending, analyzed the problem by examining about 1.8 million tax returns. About one in four taxpayers eligible for education tax breaks failed to claim one of the available credits or the tuition deduction, the analysis found.
On average, those taxpayers missed an opportunity to reduce their taxes by $169. About 10 percent of that group could have saved more than $500. The Treasury Department has urged lawmakers to simplify education tax breaks.
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