Education
Illinois Tax Credit Available for Some K-12 Education Expenses. Here’s What to Know
(Evgen Prozhyrko / iStock)
Illinois’ foray into offering a tax credit to donors to a state fund used to pay for low-income students’ private tuition is over. Legislators, who enacted Invest in Kids in 2017, decided to let it lapse, so contributions made to scholarship-granting organizations after 2023 won’t lead to an income tax credit.
But parents across the state could qualify for a tax credit for paying tuition or for other education expenses.
Illinois offers a tax credit worth up to $750 for “qualified education expenses” at both public and private schools, including book rental, lab fees and tuition, in excess of $250.
There’s no need to save receipts from back-to-school shopping for crayons, notebooks or calculators purchased at places like Target, Walmart or an art supply store. Those don’t qualify.
Illinois in 2022 — an election year when there was a race for governor — offered a back-to-school sales tax holiday, which for a brief period in August dropped the sales tax on school supplies, as well as clothes and shoes that cost less than $125.
The state hasn’t offered that since.
Day care, tutoring and trade school also don’t qualify for the 25% Education Expense Credit that is in place.
Rather, expenses are for renting required books, lab fees that cover equipment and materials, tuition or renting a band instrument from the school (renting from a store does not count).
There are separate requirements for homeschooled students’ expenses.
According to the Illinois Department of Revenue, 203,000 taxpayers claimed the state’s Education Expense Credit in the 2023 tax year. The department said the average credit was $322, for a state total of more than $65.4 million.
The tax credit is only available to parents and guardians with a joint income of less than $500,000; half that for single filers.
Sorry, collegians. The credit only covers materials for students from kindergarten through high school. Students must also be full time and under age 21.
K-12 teachers can also receive a tax credit of up to $500 for materials they buy for their classrooms.
According to the revenue department, more than 68,500 taxpayers claimed the Instructional Materials and Supply Tax Credit in the 2023 tax year, for a total of more than $29.91 million.
Contact Amanda Vinicky: @AmandaVinicky | [email protected]
