Claiming the Hope Credit. Do we have to claim all tuition expenses?

Paying for College
1

The first $1000 of the Hope credit is refundable. I have to have taxable income to get more than that back.
My college expenses exceeded my grants by $3000.
I think if I deduct the full $3000 from my income, it will reduce my Earned Income tax credit by 10 cents on the dollar. I want to just claim $1000 of the difference, so I get the most back. If we are eligible for tuition deductions from our income, do we have to claim the full amount, or may we claim just some of it?

Thanks.

2

The Hope credit has been expanded and is now the AOTC. The expenses used to claim the AOTC aren’t deducted from your income. They are used to calculate the credit which is then subtracted from your tax owed. Your EITC shouldn’t be affected by the AOTC.

3

You may not be understanding the refundable part of the AOTC correctly either. You need $4k of qualified expenses to get the max $1000 refundable credit. $3k of qualified expenses will get you $900 refundable, $2k gets you $800, $1k gets you $400.