TAX CREDIT

SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE
COLLEGE TUITION TAX CREDIT
To help ease the financial burden for South Carolina
college students and their families, the South Carolina
General Assembly has created an income tax credit for
tuition paid to South Carolina colleges and universities.
The following information should answer most of your
questions about the tax credit.
Who can claim the credit?
The student, parents, guardian or whomever actually
pays the tuition and claims the student as a dependent
on their tax return may claim the credit. If the parent and
student split the cost of the tuition, they also may split the
credit on the tax return. However, the combined credit
claimed by the parent and student may not exceed the
maximum amount of the credit. Parents or guardians
with more than one student in college may claim a credit
for each qualifying student.
Who qualifies for the credit?
􀀹 Students must have completed their high school
education in May 1997 or afterwards.
􀀹 Students must have graduated from a South
Carolina high school or home school program in
South Carolina. Students may also qualify if they
graduated from an out-of-state prep school as long
as the parent or guardian remained a South
Carolina resident.
􀀹 Students must qualify for in-state tuition
􀀹 Students must compete at least 30 credit hours by
the end of the tax year in which the credit is
claimed
􀀹 Students must be enrolled in an undergraduate
degree program or at a one-year undergraduate
certificate or diploma program.
􀀹 Students cannot have been convicted or pled
guilty or no contest to any felonies or alcohol or
drug crimes in any state. (This does not apply if
the criminal record has been expunged.)
􀀹 Students cannot be in default on any student
loans.
􀀹 Students may not claim the credit if they are
recipients of the LIFE Scholarship or the Palmetto
Fellowship. If the student loses the scholarship, a
tax credit may be claimed for the time remaining in
the four-year credit period if the student otherwise
qualifies.
􀀹 Students must be in good standing at the school.

FREE HELP WITH TAX RETURNS

notice free tax help.doc
Tax counseling and preparation help is available under the sponsorship of the American
Association of Retired Persons (AARP), in cooperation with the Internal Revenue Service
(IRS). Tax-Aide tax counseling is a free service provided by volunteers who have been
trained in tax counseling and who provide their services free to those who are eligible
under the program. This service is not limited to senior citizens. Services for the 2008 Tax
Year will be available from February 1, 2009 through April 15, 2009.
Site locations and times in Northern Kentucky are as follows:
COUNTY LOCATION DAY and TIMES
BOONE BOONE COUNTY LIBRARY FRIDAY
1786 Burlington Pike 9:00 am – 1:00 pm
BURLINGTON, KY 41005
CAMPBELL FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH THURSDAY
220 S. Ft. Thomas Ave 9:00 am – 1:00 pm
FT. THOMAS, KY 41075
CAMPBELL NEWPORT PUBLIC LIBRARY TUESDAY
901 E. Sixth Street 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
NEWPORT, KY 41076
KENTON KENTON COUNTY LIBRARY WEDNESDAY
5TH & SCOTT ST 9:00 am – 1:00 pm
COVINGTON, KY 41011
KENTON ERLANGER CHRISTIAN CHURCH SATURDAY
27 Graves 9:00 am – 1:00 pm
ERLANGER, KY 41018
PENDLETON PENDLETON COUNTY LIBRARY MONDAY
228 Main St 3:00 pm – 7:00 pm
FALMOUTH, KY 41040
GRANT WILLIAMSTOWN SENIOR CENTER SATURDAY
400 N Main St (behind firehouse) 9:00 am – 1:00 pm
Williamstown, KY 41097
Please bring the following with you when you come: Copies of your last year (2007)
Federal and KY income tax returns, Social Security cards for self and all dependents, W-2
forms from each employer, unemployment compensation statements, SSA-1099 if you
received Social Security benefits, all 1099 forms showing dividends and interest, 1099-R
form if you received pension or annuity, 1099-misc showing any miscellaneous income,
bring documentation showing selling price and original purchase price for any assets sold,
all forms indicating federal and state income tax paid, dependent care provider
information, all receipts or canceled checks if itemizing deductions.

Filling Your State Tax Forms

The taxes imposed by the States are called State taxes. State forms are used by individuals and companies to file the income earned during a year to the state revenue department. They differ for various states and so do the numerous forms required to file the returns. Most of the states impose state taxes on their residents and those that do not impose individual income tax have corporate income tax. People residing in these states have to file state income tax also, in addition to the federal income tax. The states that impose neither income tax nor corporate income tax have high sales tax.

They could be obtained from the post offices, libraries or schools. It could be downloaded from the Revenue site of the respective states.

The filling of state tax forms can be very simple in some cases and could be complex in certain other cases depending on the type of income they earn. If wages or salary is your only source of income, then it requires you to fill in very few details. If you have income from pensions, real estate, stock market transactions etc, then you will have to submit supplementary forms and worksheets and this could be very long.

If the federal tax is already filed, then you can refer to that and fill in some of the details of your state tax forms. There are certain exemptions, deductions and tax situations that are specific to each state. If you are filling the forms in yourself you should be aware of these, otherwise you will end up paying more taxes than is necessary. State taxes could be counted as deductions in the federal tax and if the state taxes are not calculated properly, this will have an impact on the federal tax.

Those who are not familiar with tax forms may use income tax software to fill in the details. This software requires you to fill in the details from your W2 tax forms, 1099 and other supporting documents. If these details are entered, the software will do the calculations and the right figures will be entered at the corresponding slots. While filing the state tax forms, the software imports the details already filled; you will be asked to fill in the details specific to the particular state.

Filing IRS form 1040 properly is essential to file the state forms as most of the details for them are imported from 1040.