Which Education Credit to Choose?

Between the two education credits, Hope credit and lifetime learning credit, which you should choose depends on your situation.

How many education tax credits can I claim a year?

In any tax year, you can receive only one tax benefit for each student. You cannot take the tuition and fees deduction on line 35 of the Form 1040 and use the same expenses to claim the Hope or Lifetime learning credit, but it may be more advantageous to claim those expenses as an adjustment instead of as a credit.

Claiming either Hope credit or Lifetime learning credit

If you choose the Hope credit for a child on your tax return, you cannot also include that child's expenses in figuring the lifetime learning credit for that child.

You can claim the Hope credit for the first two years of a student's postsecondary education and claim the lifetime learning credit for that same student in later tax years.

You can claim a different credit for the qualified expenses of each eligible student in the same tax year.

Comparison of education credits

Below is the table summarizing the differences between the credits. This table is also found in the IRS Publication 17 page 226.