Tax Deductions??

[PookieGirl]

Can you deduct the cost of applying to med school anywhere on your taxes? By this I mean deducting either application fees and/ or travel/ hotel costs. It seems to me that there must be a place that we could deduct this but I just don't know where.

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[CanuckRazorback]

Can you deduct the cost of applying to med school anywhere on your taxes? By this I mean deducting either application fees and/ or travel/ hotel costs. It seems to me that there must be a place that we could deduct this but I just don't know where.

Good idea... Anyone knows?

 

[mpp]

No.

 

[PookieGirl]

No.

Are you sure? These expenses are extensive and it seems that there must be a way to deduct them. HOw do you know?

 

[deuist]

Are you sure? These expenses are extensive and it seems that there must be a way to deduct them. HOw do you know?

Those are personal expenses, not business or educational expenses. (To make an education deduction, you must pay for tuition and receive a 1098 from your school.) Trips and applications to schools were not deductible when you applied for college, and they are not deductable now.

 

[NorCalGirl]

Those are personal expenses, not business or educational expenses. (To make an education deduction, you must pay for tuition and receive a 1098 from your school.) Trips and applications to schools were not deductible when you applied for college, and they are not deductable now.

Yeah they say your education expenses have to be tied to your current enrollment in a school (like tuition, books for classes you're taking at a school). You can interpret their words how you want, but I think it's a no.

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p970/ch06.html

 

[Law2Doc]

Yeah they say your education expenses have to be tied to your current enrollment in a school (like tuition, books for classes you're taking at a school). You can interpret their words how you want, but I think it's a no.

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p970/ch06.html

Sadly I think you will be unable to deduct med school application and travel costs. If you were working in a field eg. business, and you have to get an MBA (or CPA, CFP or CFA etc.) for work in your current field, you would be able to deduct such expenses as an "ordinary and necessary business expense" associated with that job. But costs associated with starting a new career or in a different field don't qualify. Bummer.

 

[PookieGirl]

That's bull$hit. Honestly, I don't know about others, but I've spent thousands of dollars on this process. I think the government should allow people to deduct for this. I think I'm going to look into this more once in med school to see what can be done to defray the costs of both applying to med school and of medical school itself.

 

[deuist]

Sadly I think you will be unable to deduct med school application and travel costs. If you were working in a field eg. business, and you have to get an MBA (or CPA, CFP or CFA etc.) for work in your current field, you would be able to deduct such expenses as an "ordinary and necessary business expense" associated with that job. But costs associated with starting a new career or in a different field don't qualify. Bummer.

Hmmm.... that gives me an idea. I used to work as a nursing assistant. I wonder if I could claim that an MD is for my employer's benefit.

 

[insistence]

That's bull$hit. Honestly, I don't know about others, but I've spent thousands of dollars on this process. I think the government should allow people to deduct for this. I think I'm going to look into this more once in med school to see what can be done to defray the costs of both applying to med school and of medical school itself.

I completely understand your frustrations but I would agree with what previous posters have said. The best thing that I have found is to list the tuition you have paid (whether in loans or not) and get educational credit when you file your taxes. I was discussing this today and it turns out as students, we can get something called an lifetime learning credit which equals 20% of the first $10K you pay in tuition. I checked it on the IRS site and it looks completely legit. I'm going to see tomorrow if I can get that 2000 for this year and amend my last year's returns and get it for last year too. I'm sure many of us students can do this.

I talked to my parents today and they weren't even aware of it but my gf's parents used a similar credit called the Hope credit (or something along those lines) where you get a similiar amount of money back depending on the tuition paid. They had received that credit for the years they helped her through undergrad. I encourage everyone to check it out and see if it applies to you.