You may be able to deduct qualified education expenses paid during the year for yourself, your spouse, or your dependent(s). You cannot claim this deduction if your filing status is married filing separately or if another person can claim an exemption for you as a dependent on his or her tax return. The qualified expenses must be for higher education, as explained later under Qualified Education Expenses.

The tuition and fees deduction can reduce the amount of your income subject to tax by up to $4,000.

This deduction is taken as an adjustment to income. This means you can claim this deduction even if you do not itemize deductions on Schedule A (Form 1040). This deduction may be beneficial to you if you do not qualify for the American opportunity or lifetime learning credits.

Table 6-1. Tuition and Fees Deduction at a Glance summarizes the features of the tuition and fees deduction.

The following rules will help you determine if you can claim the tuition and fees deduction.

Generally, you can claim the tuition and fees deduction if all three of the following requirements are met.

1. You pay qualified education expenses of higher education.
2. You pay the education expenses for an eligible student.
3. The eligible student is yourself, your spouse, or your dependent for whom you claim an exemption on your tax return.

The term "qualified education expenses" is defined later under Qualified Education Expenses. "Eligible student" is defined later under Who Is an Eligible Student. For more information on claiming the deduction for a dependent, see Who Can Claim a Dependent's Expenses , later.

You cannot claim the tuition and fees deduction if any of the following apply.

• Your filing status is married filing separately.
• Another person can claim an exemption for you as a dependent on his or her tax return. You cannot take the deduction even if the other person does not actually claim that exemption.
• Your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is more than $80,000 ($160,000 if filing a joint return).
• You (or your spouse) were a nonresident alien for any part of 2011 and the nonresident alien did not elect to be treated as a resident alien for tax purposes. More information on nonresident aliens can be found in Publication 519.
• You or anyone else claims an American opportunity or lifetime learning credit in 2011 with respect to expenses of the student for whom the qualified education expenses were paid.