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Okay, I think I read somewhere that you can deduct education if it goes towards a degree at an accredited college. ERAU even sent me a tax form stating how much tutition I paid last year. Sooooo, here's my question. Since I'm taking classes through Riddle's extended campus, I can send them copies of my ratings, then they give me credit towards my degree for them. Doing it this way, does that enable me to deduct at least SOME of my flight training? I don't have any receipts from 2003 (DOH!), so I'm mainly looking at this for next year. Those of you that go to Daytona Beach, Prescott, Purdue, UND or other accredited colleges with flight programs, can you guys deduct this as a tuition or book expense?
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Steven,
Are you a free lance instructor using a legal DBA?
Here is my understanding on the subject...
Part of my motivation in wanting to set up a corporate entity for my lawn business is that, among other things, I can legally deduct my college expense. In so many words, the rule states: If you are an employee of the company (in this case I’m the CEO of my lawn biz…I know it sounds funny
) the corporation may deduct the expense of collegiate education providing that it is applicable to the type of business. So in my case, seeking a business degree will benefit the company, therefore it is applicable. However, this wouldn’t work if I was seeking a degree in aerospace unless, of course, I was an employee of an aerospace corporation.
The point I’m trying to make, is that unless you’ve actually incorporated your flight instruction business you can’t take a deduction for college expenses. This is the information I’ve discovered after researching the topic, however, I’m not a tax professional by any means of the word! So, that being said, there may be some little loop-hole out there in the complex world of IRS tax code that would allow you to do this.
Good luck!