Can I claim education expenses for my pharmacy tech certificate program without a 1098-T?

Yes, you can still claim qualified educational expenses even without a 1098-T form! The 1098-T is helpful but not required for claiming education credits or deductions. First, determine which education benefit applies to your situation - either the American Opportunity Credit, the Lifetime Learning Credit, or the Tuition and Fees Deduction. For a certificate program like pharmacy tech, the Lifetime Learning Credit is usually the best fit since it covers professional development and job skills courses. In FreeTaxUSA, when you get to the education section, there should be an option to manually enter educational expenses. You'll need to provide the school's information and your qualified expenses. No need to upload receipts with your return, but definitely keep them for your records in case of an audit. The software might prompt for a 1098-T form number - you can indicate the school didn't provide one. Just make sure you only claim expenses you actually paid in 2024 (not amounts covered by scholarships or grants).

Just wanted to share my experience! I was in a similar situation with my coding bootcamp not providing a 1098-T. After struggling with the IRS website, I found this service called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that really helped me understand exactly what I could claim. I uploaded my education receipts and it analyzed everything, told me which expenses qualified, and explained how to enter them correctly in my tax software. It gave me step-by-step instructions for FreeTaxUSA specifically, which was super helpful since the software can be confusing when you don't have the standard forms. It also caught that I could claim some of my textbooks and required course materials which I had no idea were eligible!

I wanted to follow up about using taxr.ai that I asked about earlier. I decided to give it a try with my similar situation (massage therapy certificate program), and it was actually super helpful! I uploaded my receipts and class registration info, and it clearly identified which expenses were qualified and which weren't. For example, I didn't know that my required massage table purchase wasn't qualified but my textbooks and course fees were. It showed me exactly where in FreeTaxUSA to enter everything - under Education Credits in the Deductions & Credits section, then selecting "My school didn't provide a 1098-T" option. Ended up getting $580 back that I would have missed completely! Definitely recommend if you're confused about education expenses without the proper forms.

After spending HOURS trying to get through to someone at the IRS about education credits (kept getting disconnected!), I finally tried Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) and was able to talk to an actual IRS agent about my certificate program expenses. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The agent confirmed that yes, certificate program expenses can qualify for the Lifetime Learning Credit even without a 1098-T, and walked me through exactly how to document it. Apparently a lot of community colleges don't issue 1098-Ts for non-degree programs, but that doesn't disqualify your expenses. The IRS agent also told me to make sure I'm only claiming expenses I paid myself (not covered by grants) and to keep my receipts for at least 3 years in case of an audit.

I have to admit I was wrong about Claimyr. After my skeptical comment, I was still struggling with my own education credit questions and decided to try it as a last resort before filing an extension. The service actually worked exactly as described. I got a call back about 90 minutes after signing up, and was immediately connected to an IRS representative who specialized in education credits. She confirmed that my paralegal certificate program qualified for the Lifetime Learning Credit even though my community college didn't issue a 1098-T. She also explained exactly what documentation I needed to keep (receipts, course enrollment confirmation, program description) and how to enter it in my tax software. Saved me from potentially missing out on about $700 in tax credits. Definitely changed my mind about the service.

Maybe I'm missing something obvious, but couldn't you just call the community college's financial office and request the 1098-T form? Schools are required to provide them for qualified education expenses. Might be easier than all these workarounds.

Quick tip from someone who went through this last year - make sure you're clear on whether your pharmacy tech program qualifies as an "eligible educational institution" for tax purposes. Not all certificate programs do, even at community colleges. Check if your school has a Federal School Code (you can look it up on the FAFSA website). If they do, you're good to claim the expenses. If not, you might be out of luck. Just wanted to mention this since no one else brought it up!