What is the difference between "Books & Materials not required to be purchased from the school" and "Other book & course-related material"

[ld-getrdone-gmail-com]

Working on Education Tax Credit.  Specific question Turbotax is asking is:

"Did student pay for book or materials to attend school?"

It asks for "Books & materials not required to be purchased form the school" and then it asks for "Other book & course-related material".  What is the difference between these 2 items????

[viktoriyab11]

This questions will determine what educational expenses qualify for Educational credits.

The American Opportunity Credit does not require course materials to be purchased directly from the educational institution, although such materials must be required as a condition of enrollment or attendance to be qualified expenses. 

For purposes of the Lifetime Learning Credit, expenses include all costs that are required to be paid to the eligible educational institution as a condition of the student's enrollment. The cost of books, supplies, etc. is not a qualified expense unless it is required to be paid directly to the institution as a condition of enrollment or attendance. A book purchased from the school bookstore is not obtained directly from the institution.

What are qualified education expenses for the American Opportunity and Lifetime Learning credits? https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/3300629

[Joel_Shprentz]

Turbotax provides three categories:

1. Books and materials required to be purchased from the school
2. Books and materials not required to be purchased from the school
3. Other books and course-related materials

The answer from TurboTaxViktoriya explains how categories 1 and 2 differ. Lifetime Learning Credit allows only category 1. American Opportunity Credit allows categories 1 and 2.

The original question asks how categories 2 and 3 differ. I hope to find out.

[JohnT2]

Me too. What is the difference between 2 and 3? Are they the same number? They are asked for in different parts of turbotax.

[LinaJ2020]

Here are the differences:  Also see image about the feature "Learn More" on the screen.  

Books and Materials Required to be purchased from the school: 

If you were required to buy course-related books, supplies or equipment directly from your school to enroll or attend.

Books and Materials Not Required to be purchased from the school  

If you bought course-related books, supplies or equipment for the school, but were not required to buy them directly from your school. 

For example, books from Amazon will be considered as not required to be purchased from the school.  College Bookstore is considered as part of the college departments, therefore, if books are required to be purchased from them, it's is considered as required to be purchased from the school.  

If the book was custom made for a course/school and needed for the course, if it is not required to be purchased from the college bookstore, you would categorize it under not required to be purchased from the school ( even you choose to buy it from the college bookstore)

As far as the Activity and Lab fees, they are required by the school, if it's not included on the Form 1098-T, you can enter under Books and Materials Required to be purchased from the school. 

Other books and course-related- anything other than the first two categories.  

[sgt-loudmouth]

Clearly, some editions of TTax have 3 questions. (Mine does. I applied updates today.)  Some appear to have only 2, according to posters.

Logically, I conclude that nothing should be entered in "Other books and course-related".

• "Books and Materials Required to be purchased from the school" -- stuff that is required, and must buy from the school.
• "Books and Materials Not Required to be purchased from the school" ---- stuff that is required, and can buy from anywhere
• "Other books and course-related" -- stuff that is not required

but you can't actually deduct stuff that wasn't required.  (e.g. Decorations for your dorm room or a monogram for your lab coat).

So I entered place-holder values into these 3 fields (111, 222, and 333) and discovered that TTax uses them to complete rows 3, 4, and 5 of "Part VI" of the Student Information Worksheet.  The effect of entering a figure for "Other books and course-related" is identical to the effect of adding that figure to "Books and Materials Not Required to be purchased from the school."  So if you have $100 of expenses and you're wondering whether you should include it in "not required to be purchased from school" or "Other books...", it doesn't matter.

Whether you use logic or you look at what it does with the numbers, "Other books and course-related" looks like a useless prompt. 

• If it must be purchased from the school, put it in "Required to be purchased from the school".  
• If it must be purchased, and you can purchase it anywhere, put it in "Not Required to be purchased from the school"
• If it need not be purchased, don't put it anywhere.

[Hal_Al]

I suspect (but don't know for sure) that the third category qualifies for a QTP/ESA distribution but not for an education credit. 

[Occam]

The answer about Activity and Lab Fees not included in the 1099-T was helpful. However, I don't think the original question was answered.  It seems that "Books and materials required to be purchased from the school" plus "Books and materials not required to be purchased from the school is 100% of "Books and Materials" cost. If so then what is "Other Books and Course Related Materials?" Are we supposed to include amounts here that are already included in the other 2 categories. If so, then  what kind of expenses are they?  If the 1st 2 categories is less than 100% of books and materials, then do the amounts left over go into "Other Books and Course Related Materials?". We need more clarification on what this "Other Books and Course Related Materials" category is.

[DaveF1006]

Other Books and Course Related materials is stuff that is not required to complete a course of study.  For an example, if you buy Cliff notes for reference, these generally are not required by an instructor but is helpful for reference. This is true for all reference-related material.  If it is not required, it is not deductible. If it is recommended but not required, it is not deductible. 

Hopefully, this clears up some of the confusion involved.

[Edited 05-05-2021|01:17 PM PST]

[RamBuck]

I don't understand why there is a distinction between books required by the instructor (bought elsewhere) and books required by the instructor (bought from the school).  Why would the former not be tax deductible?  (And for that matter, I cannot imaging what books/supplies are ever a condition of enrollment.  Who came up with that logic?)

[JillS56]

These questions will determine what educational expenses qualify for Educational credits.

The American Opportunity Credit does not require course materials to be purchased directly from the educational institution, although such materials must be required as a condition of enrollment or attendance to be qualified expenses. 
 

For purposes of the Lifetime Learning Credit, expenses include all costs that are required to be paid to the eligible educational institution as a condition of the student's enrollment. The cost of books, supplies, etc. is not a qualified expense unless it is required to be paid directly to the institution as a condition of enrollment or attendance. A book purchased from the school bookstore is not obtained directly from the institution.

Qualified expenses include tuition, fees, books, supplies, equipment, and other course materials as long as they are required (room and board is not included). 

What are qualified education expenses for the American Opportunity and Lifetime Learning credits? Qualified Education Expenses