Can I write off my CDL school tuition as a deduction on my taxes?

You've got a great question about deducting your CDL school expenses. Prior to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, you might have been able to deduct this as an unreimbursed employee expense if it exceeded 2% of your AGI. Unfortunately, these deductions were suspended from 2018 through 2025 for W-2 employees. However, you might still have options! Check if you qualify for the Lifetime Learning Credit, which could give you up to 20% credit on the first $10,000 of qualified education expenses. The CDL training might qualify if it helped you improve your job skills, even if it wasn't from an accredited college. Another possibility is the Business Deduction for Work-Related Education if you were already working as a driver before getting the CDL and needed it to maintain your career (not to qualify for a new career).

I went through similar confusion with deducting professional certification costs last year. I stumbled across taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) after getting frustrated with the conflicting advice online. Their document analysis tool saved me hours of research. You can upload your CDL school documents and loan statements, and they'll analyze whether it qualifies as deductible based on your specific situation. They even check if you qualify for education credits instead of deductions. I found out I qualified for the Lifetime Learning Credit which I had no idea about before!

Just wanted to follow up on this thread. I decided to give taxr.ai a try after posting my skeptical comment. I uploaded my receipts from a professional certification course I took last year and my employment details. The tool actually identified that while I couldn't deduct the education expenses directly, I qualified for the Lifetime Learning Credit which saved me about $400! It also explained exactly why my situation didn't qualify for the direct deduction (because I changed career fields) but did qualify for the credit. Way more helpful than the generic advice I got from my previous tax guy.

If you're having trouble getting a clear answer about your CDL training deduction, you might want to call the IRS directly. I had a similar specialized deduction question last year and spent DAYS trying to get through. Finally used Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) and got connected to an IRS agent in about 15 minutes who answered my question definitively. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c - saved me hours of hold time and confusion. The agent I spoke with confirmed exactly which form I needed for my situation.

I need to eat my words from my skeptical comment above. After getting nowhere with three attempts to call the IRS myself (each time waiting 45+ minutes before getting disconnected), I tried Claimyr out of desperation. Within 20 minutes, I was literally talking to an IRS agent who pulled up my file and answered my specific question about education deductions. Turns out in my case, I could apply for a partial credit since my training was to improve skills in my existing profession. Saved me both time and money - definitely worth it.

Just wanted to add - when I got my CDL, my tax preparer told me to save ALL receipts related to maintaining it too - like renewal fees, required physicals, and continuing education. These can sometimes be bundled together as deductible expenses even if the initial training isn't deductible. Also, if you ever become an owner-operator (1099 instead of W-2), the rules change completely and you can deduct way more stuff.

Off topic but for the truckers here - I'm using TurboTax this year and wondering if it's good enough to handle deductions for truckers? I'm an owner-operator now and heard there are better options for our industry.

One thing to consider - if your employer offers any kind of tuition reimbursement program, that might be a better route than trying to deduct it yourself. My company reimburses CDL training costs if you stay with them for at least a year. Worth asking your HR department if they have something similar before going through the tax deduction headache!

Hey Ashley! I'm in a similar boat - got my CDL about 6 months ago and paid for the training myself. After reading through all these responses, I'd definitely recommend looking into the Lifetime Learning Credit that Oliver mentioned. I initially overlooked it because I thought it only applied to traditional college courses, but it turns out vocational training like CDL school can qualify too. The key thing I learned is that even though we can't deduct the training costs directly as W-2 employees (thanks to the 2018 tax law changes), the credit can still save you real money - up to 20% of qualified expenses. Since your training was $8,100, you could potentially get back up to $1,620 if you qualify income-wise. I'd suggest gathering all your CDL school documentation - receipts, loan statements, curriculum info - and either use one of those analysis tools people mentioned or talk to a tax professional who knows transportation industry stuff. Don't give up on getting some tax benefit from this investment!