Can You Claim the Credit?

The following rules will help you determine if you are eligible to claim the American opportunity credit on your tax return.

Who Can Claim the Credit?

Generally, you can claim the American opportunity credit if all three of the following requirements are met.

• You pay qualified education expenses of higher education.

• You pay the education expenses for an eligible student.

• The eligible student is either yourself, your spouse, or a dependent you claim on your tax return.

Note: Qualified education expenses paid by a dependent you claim on your tax return, or by a third party for that dependent, are considered paid by you.

Student qualifications. Generally, you can claim the American opportunity credit for a student only if all of the following four requirements are met.

1. As of the beginning of 2025, the student had not completed the first 4 years of postsecondary education (generally, the freshman through senior years of college), as determined by the eligible educational institution. For this purpose, don’t include academic credit awarded solely because of the student’s performance on proficiency examinations.

2. The American opportunity credit has not been claimed by you or anyone else (see below) for this

10 Chapter 2 American Opportunity Credit Publication 970 (2025)

student for any 4 tax years before 2025. If the American opportunity credit has been claimed for this student for any 3 or fewer tax years before 2025, this requirement is met.

3. For at least one academic period beginning (or treated as beginning) in 2025, the student both:

a. Was enrolled in a program that leads to a degree,

certificate, or other recognized educational credential; and

b. Carried at least one-half the normal full-time work

load for his or her course of study.

The standard for what is half of the normal full-time workload is determined by each eligible educational institution. However, the standard may not be lower than any of those established by the U.S. Department of Education under the Higher Education Act of 1965.

For 2025, treat an academic period beginning in the first 3 months of 2026 as if it began in 2025 if qualified education expenses for the student were paid in 2025 for that academic period. See Prepaid expenses , later.

If the requirements above aren’t met for any stu-

TIP dent, you can’t claim the American opportunity

credit for that student. You may be able to claim the lifetime learning credit for part or all of that student’s qualified education expenses instead.

“Qualified education expenses” are defined later under Qualified Education Expenses . “Eligible students” are de- fined later under Who Is an Eligible Student . A dependent you claim on your tax return is defined later under Who Can Claim a Dependent’s Expenses .

You may find Figure 2-1 helpful in determining if you can claim an American opportunity credit on your tax return.

Who Can’t Claim the Credit?

You can’t claim the American opportunity credit for 2025 if any of the following apply.

• Your filing status is married filing separately.

• You are claimed as a dependent on another person’s tax return, such as your parent’s return. See Who Can Claim a Dependent’s Expenses, later.

• Your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is $90,000 or more ($180,000 or more if married filing jointly). MAGI is explained later under Effect of the Amount of Your Income on the Amount of Your Credit .

• You (or your spouse) were a nonresident alien for any part of 2025 and the nonresident alien didn’t elect to be treated as a resident alien for tax purposes. More information on nonresident aliens can be found in Pub. 519, U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens.

• You weren’t issued an SSN (or ITIN) by the due date of your 2025 return (including extensions). You can’t claim the American opportunity credit on either your original or an amended 2025 return. Also, you can’t claim this credit on your original or an amended 2025 return for a student who wasn’t issued an SSN, ATIN, or ITIN by the due date of your return (including extensions). If an ATIN or ITIN is applied for on or before the due date of a 2025 return (including extensions) and the IRS issues an ATIN or ITIN as a result of the application, the IRS will consider the ATIN or ITIN as issued on or before the due date of the return.