my dh asked me last night if I thought we could get a tax write off for all this homeschooling supplies we buy. I told him id post and see if anyone knew the answer to that.

Here is our situation. (kids in grades k, 3rd, 6th,7th)

We have a room dedicated to only schooling, weve turned it into a kinda one rooms school house. The kids have a computer used for educational purposes(DH and I have a laptop that is used by us), we buy all our school supplies and books etc. I am keeping all my reciepts and stuff, i am a registered in the state of Ky as a homeschool down at the local school district, we obviously pay for all field trips, food, etc.

Can we tax write off any of this, if not what do I do to make this a tax write off? we are getting ready to convert a second room in our house as a extention to our classroom and i think this is what started this train of thought. We are wanting to turn the second room into the hands on type room,t he one with the computer, science center, vsmile center, kinda like a hands on discovery area etc.

Anyone know the answer, ive been teaching for 4 yrs now and never thought about this, would it be considered almost like a business??

I'm in FL. Maybe your state has different laws but my DH who is a CPA says there are no tax deductions for homeschooling.

There are deductions for home offices apparently and it loks like you are thinking along those lines by having a dedicated room but so far there are no deductions.

No, you may not deduct it at the Federal level.

Here in GA you cannot do so at the state level, and actually I know of no states where you can. Here in GA you also can't qualify for the "teaching" deduction that public and private school teachers are able to get on their taxes.

Home offices are a different matter.

http://www.kentuckyalliance.org/marchdigest.asp

Other parents in KY agree with you!

From the IRS:

I will be homeschooling my child next year. What is deductible?

A: There is no deduction for your child's home schooling expenses. These are nondeductible personal, living or family expenses.

I personally think we should get some form of write off, i mean hello we are teaching our children the same as a actual school system, i had to go to the department of education and file as a legal homeschool, with a name that now is registered as a school so why dont I fall at least in the same category as a teacher, i dont expect a ton of deductions or anything but something to ease the burden of spending hundreds of dollars on books, field trips, etc. I teach 4 kids so it can get expensive. I just dont think its fair we dont get anything to ease the expenses.

Oh well still going to homeschool because i think its whats best for my kids.