Lifetime Learning Credit calculator, 2026
This works out one number from the Lifetime Learning 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-cap result below the income limit you enter.
You provide
- Your filing status
- Qualified education expenses on this return
- 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.
Effective 2026-01-01Source: Education credits - AOTC and LLC (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 ($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
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 | $200 | $200 |
| 5,000 | $1,000 | $1,000 |
| 10,000 | $2,000 | $2,000 |
| 20,000 | $2,000 | $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.
Education credits - AOTC and LLC (IRS)
- Maximum credit
LLC allows a credit up to $2,000 per return.
- Rate on qualified expenses
LLC is 20% of the first $10,000 of qualified expenses paid for all students claimed on the return.
- Qualified expenses limit
LLC is 20% of the first $10,000 of qualified expenses paid for all students claimed on the return.
- 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).
Every 2026 Lifetime Learning Credit figure · Lifetime Learning 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