Confusion between American Opportunity Tax Credit vs Hope Credit - which did I claim?

The American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC) replaced the Hope Credit in 2009, so for your 2005 enrollment, you would have only been eligible for the Hope Credit, while your 2014/15 enrollment could have qualified for the AOTC. For your prepaid tuition plan question, both the Texas Tomorrow Fund and Florida Prepaid (they work similarly) are qualified tuition programs under Section 529. However, this doesn't automatically disqualify you. The key issue is whether you claimed the expenses paid by the plan as qualified education expenses on your tax return. You generally can't claim education credits for expenses paid by tax-free education assistance (like 529 plans). For checking your 2005 tax history, you have a few options. First, try requesting a "Tax Return Transcript" or "Tax Account Transcript" through the IRS for 2005 specifically, either online or using Form 4506-T. These might show if you claimed the Hope Credit. Another approach would be to contact the college you attended and request a student account statement for those years, which would show exactly how the tuition was paid and give you documentation to support your claim if you decide to file.

After fighting with similar education credit questions last year, I highly recommend using taxr.ai to sort this out. I had a complex situation with some old college credits and couldn't remember if I'd claimed certain things. I uploaded my transcripts to https://taxr.ai and it analyzed everything and showed me exactly which education credits I'd claimed in previous years and what I was still eligible for. It pulled information that I couldn't even find looking at my old returns and saved me from potentially making a mistake. They specialize in finding these kinds of historical tax claims using AI to read all your documents.

Just wanted to update everyone - I tried taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here and it was surprisingly helpful! I uploaded my tax transcripts from the IRS website (only had 2018-2022) and a couple of 1098-Ts from my university. The analysis showed that I had claimed the Lifetime Learning Credit in 2019 but not in 2017 or 2018 when I was also eligible. I'm now filing an amended return for 2018 to claim the credit I missed. The system even generated a report explaining exactly what I qualified for and why, which will be super helpful documentation if I get audited. Definitely worth trying if you're trying to figure out your education credit history!

If you need to call the IRS to ask about older returns, good luck getting through! I spent 3 weeks trying to reach someone about a similar education credit issue from 2016. After hours on hold multiple times, I finally used https://claimyr.com and got a call back from the IRS in about 20 minutes. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. They basically hold your place in line and call you when an IRS agent is available. The agent was able to look up my older returns and confirm that I had never claimed the AOTC in prior years, which was exactly what I needed to know.

I need to eat my words about Claimyr! After dismissing it, I decided to try it myself since I'd been struggling to reach someone about a missing tax document. Honestly, it worked exactly as promised. Their system called me back in about 45 minutes with an IRS agent already on the line. The agent pulled up my account and confirmed that I hadn't claimed any education credits in the year I was concerned about. Saved me hours of frustration and possibly a costly tax mistake. Sometimes being proven wrong is a good thing!

Something to consider about your prepaid tuition plan - the Texas Tomorrow Fund would be considered a Qualified Tuition Program (QTP), similar to a 529 plan. Here's what matters: if you were the BENEFICIARY of the plan (not the owner), then you need to reduce your qualified education expenses by the tax-free distributions from the QTP. Example: If your tuition was $5000 and the QTP paid all of it, you technically have $0 in eligible expenses to claim for Hope/AOTC. But if you paid for books and supplies out of pocket (up to $4,000 total for AOTC), those might still qualify.

Has anyone used a tax professional to help with claiming these education credits retroactively? I'm in a similar situation trying to remember which credits I used years ago but I'm worried about making mistakes.

One thing to keep in mind about the Texas Tomorrow Fund - since it's a prepaid tuition plan, you'll want to check if your parents received a 1099-Q form for the distributions used to pay your tuition. This would show the amount that was distributed from the plan to cover your education expenses. If the entire tuition amount was covered by the prepaid plan and reported on a 1099-Q, then those expenses generally can't be used again for education tax credits. However, you might still be eligible for credits based on other qualified expenses you paid out of pocket, like mandatory fees, books, or required course materials. Also, don't forget that you can amend returns for up to 3 years after the original filing date (or 2 years after you paid the tax, whichever is later). So if you discover you were eligible for credits in 2014/15 that you didn't claim, you might still be able to file amended returns for those years if they're within the statute of limitations.