2020 Educator Expense Deduction
The 2020 Educator Expense Deduction is $250.
Effective 2020-01-01Source: Rev. Proc. 2019-44 (IRS)Verified 2026-08-29
Compared with 2019
Every figure on this page is unchanged from 2019.
| Item | 2019 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum deduction | $250 | $250 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
Who it applies to
Eligible educators - teachers in elementary and secondary schools - who pay or incur unreimbursed classroom expenses.
What changed this year, and why
For taxable years beginning in 2020, the maximum above-the-line deduction for eligible educators is $250 for unreimbursed classroom expenses such as books, supplies, computer equipment, software, and supplementary materials.
Common questions
- What expenses qualify for the educator expense deduction?
- An eligible educator is a teacher who works in an elementary or secondary school. The deduction covers expenses for books, supplies, computer equipment and software, and supplementary materials used in the classroom. Nonathletic supplies for health or physical education courses do not qualify.
The 900 hour rule, and who counts as an educator
For 2020, an eligible educator is defined as a teacher, instructor, counselor, principal, or aide working in a school from kindergarten through grade 12. The key threshold is the time requirement: the individual must have worked in the school for at least 900 hours during a single school year. This covers the core classroom roles (teachers and instructors) as well as support positions (counselors, principals, and aides). Educators who teach beyond grade 12, such as college professors, or who work fewer than 900 hours in the school year, do not meet this definition and therefore cannot claim the educator expense deduction. The 900-hour standard is a bright-line test - there is no partial credit for hours worked below that amount. If you meet this definition, you may deduct up to $250 of qualified expenses on line 10 of your 2020 return, subject to the other rules on what qualifies and the reductions described below.
An eligible educator is a kindergarten through grade 12 teacher, instructor, counselor, principal, or aide who worked in a school for at least 900 hours during a school year.
2020 Instructions for Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return (IRS)
What you may actually deduct
To qualify for the educator expense deduction, the costs you paid must be both ordinary and necessary. An ordinary expense is one that is common and accepted in your educational field. A necessary expense is one that is helpful and appropriate for your profession as an educator; it does not have to be required by your employer to be considered necessary. The IRS identifies two broad categories of qualifying costs. First, you may deduct amounts you paid for professional development courses, but only if those courses are related to the curriculum you teach or to the students you teach. Second, you may deduct amounts you paid for books, supplies, equipment (including computer equipment, software, and services), and other materials that are used in the classroom. In addition, for 2020 the IRS specifically treats amounts paid or incurred after March 12, 2020, for personal protective equipment, disinfectant, and other supplies used to prevent the spread of coronavirus as qualified expenses. All of these costs count toward the $250 maximum deduction, so keep receipts and records showing the amounts you spent and the classroom purpose they served.
Qualified expenses include ordinary and necessary expenses paid: • For professional development courses you have taken related to the curriculum you teach or to the students you teach; or • In connection with books, sup- plies, equipment (including computer equipment, software, and services), and other materials used in the classroom.
2020 Instructions for Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return (IRS)
Home schooling and health class supplies are out
Even if you paid for educational materials, the IRS excludes certain categories of spending from the educator expense deduction entirely. The most explicit exclusion applies to expenses connected with home schooling. If you are educating your own children at home and purchase books, supplies, or curriculum materials for that purpose, those costs do not count as qualified expenses for line 10. The deduction is reserved for educators who work in a traditional school setting, not for parents teaching their own children. A second exclusion targets courses in health or physical education. Supplies that are non-athletic in nature and used for such courses are specifically disqualified. For example, if a health teacher buys textbooks or classroom handouts that are not tied to an athletic activity, those particular supplies cannot be included in the deduction. These exclusions operate as bright-line rules: regardless of whether the costs would otherwise meet the ordinary-and-necessary test, they are simply not eligible. You should remove any home-schooling purchases and any non-athletic health or physical-education supplies from your worksheet before computing the deduction.
Qualified expenses don’t include ex- penses for home schooling or for non- athletic supplies for courses in health or physical education.
2020 Instructions for Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return (IRS)
Four amounts that cut the deduction first
Before you claim the educator expense deduction, you must subtract four categories of tax-free or employer-funded amounts from your qualified expenses. The IRS requires these reductions so that you do not receive a double tax benefit by deducting costs that were already paid with money that escaped taxation or that your employer reimbursed. First, reduce your qualified expenses by any excludable interest you earned on U.S. series EE or I savings bonds that you report on Form 8815. Second, subtract any nontaxable qualified tuition program earnings or distributions. Third, subtract any nontaxable distribution from a Coverdell education savings account. Fourth, subtract any reimbursements your employer or another source paid you for these expenses, but only if those reimbursements were not already included in your wage income reported on your Form W-2. If a reimbursement already appears as taxable wages, you do not subtract it again. After making all four reductions, the remaining amount is the figure you compare against the $250 cap; you cannot deduct more than that maximum.
You must reduce your qualified ex- penses by the following amounts. • Excludable U.S. series EE and I savings bond interest from Form 8815. • Nontaxable qualified tuition pro- gram earnings or distributions. • Any nontaxable distribution of Coverdell education savings account earnings. • Any reimbursements you received for these expenses that weren’t rep
2020 Instructions for Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return (IRS)
Two educators on one joint return
When two eligible educators are married and file a joint return, the IRS allows them to combine their individual deductions, but the combination is subject to a specific structure. If both spouses qualify as eligible educators, the maximum deduction on their joint return is $500. That $500 ceiling is simply the sum of two separate per-person limits; each spouse may claim up to $250 of his or her own qualified expenses. Critically, neither spouse can exceed the $250 per-person cap, even if one spouse spent far more than the other on classroom supplies. The $500 figure is available only when both spouses meet the eligible-educator test; if only one spouse qualifies, that spouse is limited to $250 regardless of filing status. Each spouse's deduction is computed independently, with its own reductions for excludable savings-bond interest, tuition program distributions, Coverdell distributions, and unreimbursed employer payments, before applying the $250 per-person cap. This rule prevents a couple from concentrating a larger deduction on one spouse while the other claims nothing, ensuring that the per-person limit is respected on every joint return.
If you and your spouse are filing jointly and both of you were eligible educators, the maximum deduction is $500. How- ever, neither spouse can deduct more than $250 of his or her qualified expen- ses on line 10.
2020 Instructions for Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return (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.
Rev. Proc. 2019-44 (IRS)
- Maximum deduction
the amount of the deduction allowed under § 162 that consists of expenses paid or incurred by an eligible educator in connection with books, supplies (other than nonathletic supplies for courses of instruction in health or physical education), computer equipment (including related software and services) and other equipment, and supplementary materials used by the eligible educator in the classroom is $250.