2026 American Opportunity Credit
For 2026, the American Opportunity Credit figures are $2,500 (Maximum credit), $2,000 (Expenses credited in full), $2,000 (Further expenses credited in part) and 3 more figures below.
Effective 2026-01-01Source: Education credits - AOTC and LLC (IRS)Verified 2026-09-03
Compared with 2025
Every figure on this page is unchanged from 2025.
| Item | 2025 | 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum credit | $2,500 | $2,500 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
| Expenses credited in full | $2,000 | $2,000 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
| Further expenses credited in part | $2,000 | $2,000 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
| Rate on the further expenses | 25% | 25% | +0% (+0.0%) |
| MAGI limit, single filers | $90,000 | $90,000 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
| MAGI limit, joint filers | $180,000 | $180,000 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
Who it applies to
Taxpayers claiming the American Opportunity Credit for qualified education expenses paid in 2026.
What changed this year, and why
The maximum American Opportunity Credit for 2026 is $2,500 per eligible student.
Common questions
- What is the maximum American Opportunity Credit for 2026?
- The maximum credit is $2,500 per eligible student for 2026.
- Did the maximum credit change from 2025?
- No. The maximum credit for 2026 is $2,500, the same as it was for 2025.
Every amount on this page is a published figure rather than yours. The American Opportunity Credit calculator takes the number you enter and works it out against them, showing which published figure it used.
40% of the credit is refundable, the rest only offsets tax
For the American Opportunity Credit in 2026, 40% of the credit is refundable. This means that portion can be paid to the taxpayer as a refund even if they owe no federal income tax. The rest of the credit is non-refundable and can only reduce tax liability. With a maximum credit of $2,500 per eligible student, the refundable portion makes this credit more valuable than fully non-refundable education credits, because it can result in a payment to the taxpayer even when their tax liability is zero.
AOTC is partially refundable, 40%.
Education credits - AOTC and LLC (IRS)
The income at which you lose the credit entirely
The credit begins to phase out once your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) reaches a certain level, and it is lost entirely once MAGI exceeds the upper limit. For a single filer, the credit is reduced once MAGI reaches $90,000 and is gone entirely above that amount; for married couples filing jointly, the phase-out begins at $180,000 and ends at that same upper bound. If you are married filing separately, you cannot claim the credit at all regardless of income. The income test applies to the taxpayer claiming the credit, not to the student, so a student with high earnings can still be claimed by an eligible parent whose MAGI is below the limit.
Your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI), is over $90,000 ($180,000 for joint filers).
Education credits - AOTC and LLC (IRS)
The same student can be claimed in only four tax years
A student may be claimed for the American Opportunity Credit in only 4 tax years total. Once four years of credits have been taken, whether or not they were consecutive, neither the student nor anyone else can claim the credit for that student in any later year. The rule is measured by the number of tax years in which the credit was previously claimed for that student, not by the student's progress toward a degree or the number of academic years completed. Even if the student is still enrolled and continues to pay qualified expenses after those four years, no further AOTC is available.
AOTC is available ONLY for 4 years per eligible student.
Education credits - AOTC and LLC (IRS)
What counts as having finished the first four years
To qualify for the credit, the student must not have completed the first 4 years of postsecondary education. The four years are counted as academic years, not tax years, and they do not have to be consecutive. Time spent in high school taking college courses, or credits earned before enrolling in a degree program, may count toward the total. Once the student has finished those first 4 years of postsecondary education, the American Opportunity Credit is no longer available for that student, even if the student continues toward a graduate degree or is still paying for undergraduate courses beyond the fourth year.
AOTC is available ONLY if the student hasn’t completed the first 4 years of postsecondary education.
Education credits - AOTC and LLC (IRS)
Half-time enrollment in a degree program is required
To claim the American Opportunity Credit, the student must be enrolled at least half-time at an eligible educational institution for at least one academic period that begins during the tax year. Half-time enrollment generally means the student is taking at least half the normal full-time workload for the course of study they are pursuing, as defined by the school. This requirement applies only to the American Opportunity Credit, not to the Lifetime Learning Credit. The academic period can be a semester, trimester, quarter, or any other period of study recognized by the institution. Students who are enrolled less than half-time, or who are taking courses merely to acquire or improve job skills without pursuing a credential, do not meet this threshold and are ineligible for the American Opportunity Credit for that year.
The student must be enrolled at least half-time for at least one academic period 1 that begins during 2025 (or the first 3 months of 2026 if the qualified expenses were paid in 2025.)
Education credits - AOTC and LLC (IRS)
A felony drug conviction disqualifies the student
A student who has been convicted of a felony for possessing or distributing a controlled substance is disqualified from the American Opportunity Credit for the tax year in question. The disqualification applies to state and federal convictions alike. However, this bar is specific to AOTC; a felony drug conviction does not make the student ineligible for the Lifetime Learning Credit. Because the rule looks at the student's own criminal record, a parent claiming the credit for a dependent child must verify that the student has no such conviction. The disqualification is evaluated separately each year, so a student who was ineligible in one year may be eligible again in a later year if the circumstances change.
The student cannot have been convicted of a state or federal felony for possessing or distributing a controlled substance.
Education credits - AOTC and LLC (IRS)
Pay in December for a term that starts by March, and it counts in the earlier year
Which tax year a payment counts toward depends on when the academic period it pays for starts, not on the calendar year you wrote the check. A qualifying academic period includes one that begins during the year you are claiming the credit for, or one that begins in the first three months of the following year, as long as you paid the qualified expenses in the year you are claiming. So if you pay in 2026 for a term that begins in the first three months of 2027, that payment counts toward your 2026 credit, not 2027's. You cannot instead wait and claim it against the later year, and you cannot split it between the two.
enrolled in one or more courses for at least academic period 1 that begins during 2025 (or the first 3 months of 2026 if the qualified expenses were paid in 2025.)
Education credits - AOTC and LLC (IRS)
You must provide the school's EIN on Form 8863
Claiming the American opportunity credit requires you to enter the school's employer identification number on Form 8863, not just its name and address. You can find the EIN on the Form 1098-T the school sends you, or you can ask the school's financial aid or bursar's office for it directly if the form does not list one. Leaving this field blank is not a minor omission - the form asks for it specifically because the American opportunity credit needs it, unlike the lifetime learning credit, which does not require the school's EIN on the same form.
You must provide the educational institutions EIN number on your Form 8863, Education Credits (American Opportunity and Lifetime Learning Credits).
Education credits - AOTC and LLC (IRS)
You can claim it for one student and the lifetime learning credit for another in the same year
The American opportunity credit and the lifetime learning credit are not mutually exclusive on the same tax return - you just cannot use both for the same student's same expenses in the same year. If you have more than one student in your family, you can claim the American opportunity credit for one student and the lifetime learning credit for a different student, both on the same return. What you cannot do is claim the American opportunity credit for a student's tuition and then also claim the lifetime learning credit for that same tuition payment; each dollar of qualified expense can only support one credit, for one student, once.
Lifetime Learning Credit (LLC) – non-refundable You can claim only one of the credits per qualifying student. You can claim both the AOTC and LLC on the same return only if they are not for the same student and the same expenses.
Education credits - AOTC and LLC (IRS)
Claim it when you are not eligible, and you can be banned for years
Claiming the American opportunity credit when you were not eligible carries a real penalty beyond simply repaying the credit with interest: the IRS can ban you from claiming it again for 2 to 10 years. Which end of that range applies depends on how the error is characterized - careless mistakes sit at the lower end, while errors treated as reckless or fraudulent reach the full 10 years. The ban applies on top of, not instead of, having to pay back the disallowed credit and any accuracy or fraud penalty. If your claim was disallowed in a past year, you generally need to file Form 8862 before you can claim the credit again in a later year.
Can be banned from claiming AOTC credit for 2 to 10 years.
Education credits - AOTC and LLC (IRS)
Filing separately from your spouse blocks the credit entirely
Taxpayers who file as married filing separately are completely barred from claiming the American Opportunity Credit for that tax year. The IRS lists this filing status as one of several conditions that disqualifies a person from claiming any education credit, alongside being claimed as a dependent on another taxpayer's return and being a nonresident alien for any part of the year without electing resident-alien treatment. The credit, worth up to $2,500 per eligible student - the full first $2,000 of qualified expenses plus 25% of the next $2,000 - is simply unavailable to separate filers regardless of income or spending on education. The income phase-out thresholds of $90,000 for single filers and $180,000 for joint filers do not offer a partial credit to married-filing-separately taxpayers; the bar is absolute. Couples who would otherwise benefit from the credit should consider whether filing jointly is more advantageous, though the decision involves the entire return, not just this credit.
Your filing status is married filing separately. You (or your spouse) were a non-resident alien for any part of the year and did not choose to be treated as a resident alien for tax purposes (find more information in Publication 519, U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens). Your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI), is over $90,000 ($180,000 for joint filers).
Education credits - AOTC and LLC (IRS)
How each figure was verified
Each number below was read from a stored copy of the document named beside it, and checked to occur word for word in the quoted sentence. The digest is of that stored text.
Education credits - AOTC and LLC (IRS)
- Maximum credit
AOTC allows a credit up to $2,500 per eligible student.
- Expenses credited in full
100% of the first $2,000 and 25% of the next $2,000.
- Further expenses credited in part
100% of the first $2,000 and 25% of the next $2,000.
- Rate on the further expenses
100% of the first $2,000 and 25% of the next $2,000.
- MAGI limit, single filers
Your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI), is over $90,000 ($180,000 for joint filers).
- MAGI limit, joint filers
Your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI), is over $90,000 ($180,000 for joint filers).