Back to School Shopping? Some Supplies are Tax Deductible

(KNSI) — The sounds of school bells will soon fill the air, and accountants are giving parents tips so they don’t leave any money on the table at tax time.

Waite Park-based Landwehr Tax & Accounting Business Manager Ashley Kerzman told KNSI News getting the most back for school supplies starts with keeping records. “Documentation [and] saving receipts is super important. A lot of times, everybody’s just in the hustle and bustle of just getting the school supplies list shopped for and taken care of before school starts. But it is super important to save those receipts and give them to your tax professional.”

Qualified expenses include paper, pens, pencils, notebooks, folders, highlighters, textbooks and gym shoes. Other tax deductible expenses include driver’s education classes, band instrument rentals, graphing calculators, headphones for a media class, rental or purchases of equipment such as computer hardware, hotspots, modems, routers and educational software, after-school tutoring and educational summer camps taught by qualified instructors.

Clothing and backpacks are not tax deductible.

Kerzman says many of these tax breaks are only available in Minnesota, and everyone is eligible. “This is something that you get, regardless of if you’re itemizing. It’s solely a Minnesota deduction, so you’re not getting any credit for it on the federal side. It is only on the state side that you are getting the credit on.”

For more tax tips, click here.

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