Rates and Limits · https://ratesandlimits.com/american-opportunity-credit/2026/calculator

American Opportunity Credit calculator, 2026

This works out one number from the American Opportunity Credit figures published for 2026. Every amount it uses is below, with the document it was read from. What you enter is your own: this site has no way to check it, and the answer it produces is not a published figure.

This calculates

The published expense-tier result below the income limit you enter.

You provide

Your filing status
Qualified education expenses for this student
Your modified adjusted gross income

It does not include

The actual gradual phase-out, student or school eligibility, qualifying expenses, other credits, tax liability, refunds, or filing.

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.

Full explanation, with the source it is read from

Maximum credit$2,500

Expenses credited in fullthe first $2,000$2,000

Further expenses credited in partthe next $2,000$2,000

Rate on the further expenses25%25%

MAGI limit, single filers$90,000$90,000

MAGI limit, joint filers$180,000$180,000

Effective 2026-01-01Source: Education credits - AOTC and LLC (IRS)Verified 2026-09-03

How it is worked out

The whole of your expenses up to the first published amount, plus the published rate on the next published amount after that, never more than the published maximum - and nothing at all once your modified adjusted gross income reaches the published limit. Rounded to the nearest cent. The credit really does reduce gradually over the ten thousand dollars below that limit; this site cannot cite a rule stating that range without quoting a hypothetical, so it states the point where the credit is gone rather than the slope leading to it.

It uses Expenses credited in full, $2,000 and Further expenses credited in part, $2,000 and Rate on the further expenses, 25% and Maximum credit, $2,500, published above.

Your filing status, from the 2 this year publishes: MAGI limit, single filers ($90,000), MAGI limit, joint filers ($180,000). The calculator uses the one you pick and says which.

Figures in this colour are computed from the amounts above. They are not published figures and no document states them.

Work it out

Your filing status

Qualified education expenses for this student

Your modified adjusted gross income

The live calculator needs JavaScript. The table below covers common amounts and is computed the same way.

Worked out for common amounts

Every row is worked out with your modified adjusted gross income at 70,000. The calculator above takes your own.
Qualified education expenses for this student	MAGI limit, single filers	MAGI limit, joint filers
500	$500	$500
2,000	$2,000	$2,000
3,000	$2,250	$2,250
4,000	$2,500	$2,500
10,000	$2,500	$2,500

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).

Fetched 2026-08-29T02:32:02.373Z
Verified 2026-09-03
Stored text sha256 6dfc0e60e0ff2842f4b6a13e2eeb68cc20e6362711efb0dd1af53626a35fa568

Every 2026 American Opportunity Credit figure · American Opportunity Credit in every year · Every calculator on this site

The same calculator for another year: 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016