Lifetime Learning Credit calculator, 2019
This works out one number from the Lifetime Learning Credit figures published for 2019. 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.
Effective 2019-01-01Source: Publication 970 (2019), Tax Benefits for Education (IRS)Verified 2026-09-03
How it is worked out
The published rate applied to your expenses up to the published expenses limit, 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 Rate on qualified expenses, 20% and Qualified expenses limit, $10,000 and Maximum credit, $2,000, published above.
Your filing status, from the 2 this year publishes: MAGI limit, single filers ($68,000), MAGI limit, joint filers ($136,000). 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
The live calculator needs JavaScript. The table below covers common amounts and is computed the same way.
Worked out for common amounts
| Qualified education expenses on this return | MAGI limit, single filers | MAGI limit, joint filers |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | $0 | $200 |
| 5,000 | $0 | $1,000 |
| 10,000 | $0 | $2,000 |
| 20,000 | $0 | $2,000 |
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.
Publication 970 (2019), Tax Benefits for Education (IRS)
- Maximum credit
Maximum credit Up to $2,000 credit per return
- Rate on qualified expenses
The amount of the lifetime learning credit is 20% of the first $10,000 of qualified education expenses you paid for all eligible students.
- Qualified expenses limit
The amount of the lifetime learning credit is 20% of the first $10,000 of qualified education expenses you paid for all eligible students.
- MAGI limit, single filers
Limit on modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) $136,000 if married filling jointly; $68,000 if single, head of household, or qualifying widow(er)
- MAGI limit, joint filers
Limit on modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) $136,000 if married filling jointly; $68,000 if single, head of household, or qualifying widow(er)
Every 2019 Lifetime Learning Credit figure · Lifetime Learning Credit in every year · Every calculator on this site
The same calculator for another year: 2026, 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2018, 2017, 2016