AOTC vs Lifetime Learning Credit — which education credit saves more this year.
Open the Education Credit Comparison tool →Two tax credits help with college costs, and you pick one per student. The American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC) is the bigger one — 100% of the first $2,000 of qualified expenses plus 25% of the next $2,000, up to $2,500 — and 40% of it is refundable, so it can pay out even with no tax due. But it's only for the first four years of a degree, at least half-time. The Lifetime Learning Credit (LLC) is 20% of up to $10,000 of expenses, up to $2,000 per return, nonrefundable, but with no year or enrollment limit — good for grad school or a single class.
We compute both from your qualified expenses and apply the MAGI phase-out (the same $80,000–$90,000 single / $160,000–$180,000 joint range for both), then show which is larger this year. It's a comparison, not advice — and you can't claim both for the same student.
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