The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 (
TRA 97) provides students and their families with several new tax benefits related to paying higher education costs. IRS
Publication 970: Tax Benefits for Education explains the important tax advantages that the new legislation made available in 1998. Since individual circumstances may vary, students should consult a professional tax advisor for assistance in interpreting the publication and determining the applicability of each benefit.
Although UCI does not provide tax advice, we offer this web site to acquaint students with aspects of TRA 97 which may be of interest. In particular, we will address the following provisions:
- the Hope Tax Credit , which provides up to $1500 credit for out-of-pocket tuition and fee expenses paid by the student or his/her parents for each of the first two years of post-secondary education
- the Lifetime Learning Tax Credit , which provides up to $2000 credit for tuition and fee expenses paid by the student or his/her parents for college or graduate level course work beyond the first two years of post-secondary education
- the Student Loan Interest Deduction , which allows a taxpayer to reduce the amount of his/her income that is subject to tax by up to $2500 for student loan intrest paid in tax year 2004
Beginning with tax year 1998, TRA 97 requires the University to report to the
Internal Revenue Service as a prerequisite for determining a student's eligibility for these tax benefits. For tax year 2004, the University sent out the required tax information to students on January 17, 2005.
For detailed information about these tax benefits, please refer to the UCI Financial Services’ TRA 97
website.
Additional information is available at:
