But then its called the "American Opportunity Credit," not the "Hope Credit" Pub 17 for tax year 2009 still lists the Hope Credit as being up to $1800 for 2 years.
If anyone is interested (probably not), tuition and fees deduction has been around since 2002
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Posted: 20 Jan 2010 at 12:57 | IP Logged
Ok, i didn't read that part where it says, "The american opportunity credit modifies the Hope Credit." So you can take the American Opportunity Credit instead of the hope credit?
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Posted: 20 Jan 2010 at 13:51 | IP Logged
Technically, according to the IRC (title 26 of the US constitution), the american opportunity credit is added and the hope credit
is unchanged.
However, the american opportunity credit effectively is the hope credit with some extra bells and whistles.
For the 2009 and 2010 tax years, the hope credit is available on Form 8863 along with american opportunity and lifetime learning
credits. However, it is only beneficial to claim the hope if you are an individual who was affected by a midwestern disaster area
because you're maximum credit is statutorily increased above and beyond the maximum american opportunity credit.
The reason for all of this is that congress wanted to add the new credit onto the code and then let it expire after 2010. All the
while, the hope credit is still on the books and will remain so even after the new AO credit sunsets, which means congress won't
have to do any additional work to reinstate the hope credit.
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Topic: Hope and lifetime learning credit
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