American Opportunity Credit for Canadian schools

This is our main tax information forum which deals with topics concerning Canadians living and working in the U.S., U.S. citizens contemplating working in Canada, and all aspects of Canadian and U.S. income tax and related adminstrative issues.

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mackayr
Posts: 74
Joined: Wed Apr 14, 2010 9:37 pm

Post by mackayr »

I realize at this point I'm probably having a one sided discussion, but I thought I'd add this. I found a link to a list of US student loan eligible institutions that is updated quarterly. It's in Excel format.

Here's a link to the site:

https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/prepare-fo ... ng-schools

Here's a direct link to the list:

https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/sites/defa ... grams.xlsx

In my case, Holland College is on the list and "eligible" as of January 10, 2017, so I think my client is in luck. Hopefully others will find this list useful.

This list:

https://fafsa.ed.gov/FAFSA/app/schoolSe ... cale=en_EN

Only seems to list the schools, with no reference to elibility. Thus it's probably not the most useful.
mackayr
Posts: 74
Joined: Wed Apr 14, 2010 9:37 pm

Post by mackayr »

LOL nelsona.

Have you seen instances where eligible tuition in one country wasn't eligible in the other? Maybe you're withholding information on me. (haha). Certainly there are differences, but many of our tax rules are very similar. It's not like Canada is going to allow a tuition deduction for Knitting For Dummies 101.

In fact, I think that many of our tax laws are modelled off of those south of the border (or across the great deep).
mackayr
Posts: 74
Joined: Wed Apr 14, 2010 9:37 pm

Post by mackayr »

Here's another link to a list I had found previously, but it doensn't contain the "Status" column, so I'm not sure how valuable it is.

https://ifap.ed.gov/ifap/fedSchoolCodeList.jsp

Here's a direct link to the Excel file.

https://ifap.ed.gov/fedschcodelist/atta ... eList.xlsx
nelsona
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Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 2:33 pm
Location: Nowhere, man

Post by nelsona »

Looking for more info about the school itself is pointless. The school is FAFSA eligible.


It itself says so, and so does FAFSA. but the school says only for the programs it listed. You can claim all you want that the list is not up-to-date but since they are not going to issue a 1098-T, you better have AMPLE proof that the expense they are claiming is eligible. no one at the school is going to back you up, obviously, since they are clueless.

So make the claim, and tell your client to keep $800 at the ready to pay IRS when/if it is denied. I wouldn't worry about future ineligibility, since it will already be determined they were ineligible expenses.

And why would you think that Cdn and US rules would be the same. They aren't for charities, for example. They aren't for many pensions schemes... and for all you tee-heeing about knitting 101, you haven't actually stated what program your client is taking, so it mustn't quite be a 'no-brainer" that it is eligible. Finding other Cdn schools, like McGill and 100s of other that have an eligible program that is identical to your clients program would be more useful proof.
nelsona non grata. Non pro. Please Search previous posts, no situation is unique as you might think. Happy Browsing :D
nelsona
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Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 2:33 pm
Location: Nowhere, man

Post by nelsona »

Or, save your time and expense, and simply guarantee the claim. Your spending lot of resources looking into this. Simply claim it and tell your client that you wil cover any IRS blowback on this issue. I trust you are not billing this poor student by the hour.
nelsona non grata. Non pro. Please Search previous posts, no situation is unique as you might think. Happy Browsing :D
mackayr
Posts: 74
Joined: Wed Apr 14, 2010 9:37 pm

Post by mackayr »

Wow! As much as I really appreciate and value your assistance and your opinion, I'm not sure how to respond to posts like that. It's your forum, so I guess that's OK. With all due respect, it just seemed out of place.

In any event:

4:11pm post: I provided a link to the particular program, along with my opinion that it met the criteria laid out in the AOC info. It's not knitting 101. It's a two year diploma in human services.

I don't know about you, but I've done a lot of other work today outside of this forum (between posts). I've probably spent 2-3 hours on this issue in aggregate (since last week), and will have a decent recovery. It happens to be the daughter of a long term, very loyal and valued client, so I'd probably be willing to spend several more hours to get it right. The approach of just putting it through and guaranteeing the result seems to be the approach of an international tax prep firm that you evidently do not respect, and I'm honestly surprised you would suggest that. Furthermore, as the second generation of my clients approach university age, it's probably something I'm going to need to know, so certainly not wasted time.

US/Canada differences: They also file jointly, we can't, they itemize, we can't, etc... Of course there are differences. Many of them. We aren't talking about charitable donations, pensions, itemizing or filing jointly here. We're talking about tuition. I doubt the criteria between the two countries is very different when it comes to eligible tuition. If a two year diploma in human services counts as full time eligible tuition in Canada, I'd be very surprised if it wasn't also eligible in the US.

Anyways ... no response required (or probably desired at this point, since you evidently don't like my approach). At this point, I'm mainly posting info for the many other users of this valuable and terrific forum who may have the same question. Honestly, I wish more people would continue to post their findings for the benefit of others.
nelsona
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Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 2:33 pm
Location: Nowhere, man

Post by nelsona »

Not my forum. As you well know, I have nothing to do with this firm.
The expenses are ineligible. But you don't want that answer.
The problem with posting experiences is that nobody reads posts older that 2 weeks, that I know.
At least you are getting paid. and what I am suggesting is done ALL THE TIME.
nelsona non grata. Non pro. Please Search previous posts, no situation is unique as you might think. Happy Browsing :D
nelsona
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Post by nelsona »

and I'm not really owed ant respect, so don't worry about me.
nelsona non grata. Non pro. Please Search previous posts, no situation is unique as you might think. Happy Browsing :D
mackayr
Posts: 74
Joined: Wed Apr 14, 2010 9:37 pm

Post by mackayr »

Again, for the benefit of future readers of this thread.

I've received a response back from the school, and they have clarified why this program isn't on the "eligible" list for US student loans purposes. Apparently, since the are an "international college" and not a "university", they have to get approval on a program by program basis. Due to the rigour and frequency of the (re)application and approval process, they have only sought approval for programs where there is the most interest from US students.
nelsona
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Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 2:33 pm
Location: Nowhere, man

Post by nelsona »

So knitting 101, or your client's equivalent, doesn't qualify for now.
Surprised the school learned so much in the past few days. Good for them.
nelsona non grata. Non pro. Please Search previous posts, no situation is unique as you might think. Happy Browsing :D
koygo
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Apr 16, 2023 8:34 pm

Re:

Post by koygo »

nelsona wrote:
> The problem with posting experiences is that nobody reads posts older that
> 2 weeks, that I know.


Unfortunately, even 6 years later, this is just not true. I appreciate the discussion mackayr. Nelsona, get off your high horse :)
nelsona
Posts: 18311
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 2:33 pm
Location: Nowhere, man

Re: American Opportunity Credit for Canadian schools

Post by nelsona »

Thanks for chiming in, koygo. No one is happier than me (and my horse) that others are putting to good use my previous posts.
nelsona non grata. Non pro. Please Search previous posts, no situation is unique as you might think. Happy Browsing :D
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