Hey, everyone. A few days ago, I was sent a couple of articles about the U.S. tax rules for deducting MBA costs and I realize that some of you may be concerned about MBA-related costs, so I thought you might find these articles to be informative. Most MBA students won’t be able to deduct the costs of an MBA when completing their tax returns, but, for those that can, it can result in huge financial benefits. I’d highly recommend figuring out where you stand on this prior to matriculating at your program.

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“When You Can Deduct the Cost of Your M.B.A”
Author: JENNIFER SARANOW SCHULTZ
Source: New York Times Online http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/when-you-can-deduct-the-cost-of-your-mba/

Excerpt from the article:

The Wall Street Journal reported last week about a Maryland nurse who won a long battle with the I.R.S. when the United States Tax Court said she had properly deducted nearly $15,000 for the cost of her master’s degree in business. The article described how the I.R.S.’s rules for deducting work-related tuition were “complicated and onerous” and said the decision “clarifies the rules and will likely lead to more taxpayers taking the deduction.”

But the article neglected to describe how the decision clarified the rules. So I did a little digging to find out.

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“More on M.B.A. Tuition Deductions”
Author: JENNIFER SARANOW SCHULTZ
Source: New York Times Online http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/more-on-mba-tuition-deductions/

Excerpt from the article:

Last week, we described how a ruling in United States Tax Court clarified the rules for deducting tuition for a graduate degree in business and explained broadly when you can deduct the cost of your M.B.A.

The gist was that you could deduct it if you could establish that you were in a certain trade or business before getting an M.B.A. and could connect the dots between your classes and skills to show that the degree would help you maintain or improve your skills in that specific trade or business.

In response, a number of readers asked about how student loans, returning to school full time and certain employer reimbursement policies would affect their ability to deduct the cost of their M.B.A. To help answer these questions, we again turned for help to Saul Brenner, a tax partner at the accounting firm Berdon.