Credit For Educational Opportunity Worksheet For Individuals

2011

CREDIT FOR EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY

WORKSHEET INSTRUCTIONS FOR INDIVIDUALS

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

Note: This worksheet and the related instructions are only for individual taxpayers who have made eligible education loan

payments. Employers eligible to claim the related credit must complete a separate worksheet – the Credit for Educational

Opportunity Worksheet for Employers.

The Credit for Educational Opportunity is a component of the Job Creation Through Educational Opportunity Program

available after 2007. The purpose of the program is to provide an income tax credit for education-related costs for Maine

residents who obtain an associate or bachelor’s degree from a Maine college, junior college or university and who, after

graduation, live, work and pay taxes in Maine. The credit is available to qualifying graduates and employers making eligible

education loan payments.

Qualifying graduates are those individuals who meet all of the following:

• the individual was a Maine resident while attending a Maine college or university in pursuit of an associate or bachelor’s

degree*;

• all coursework for the associate or bachelor’s degree was performed at a Maine college or university*;

• the individual obtained an associate or bachelor’s degree from a Maine college or university after 2007 ; and

• after graduation, this individual is a Maine resident working for an employer located in Maine.

For an individual already enrolled in a degree program when the Educational Opportunity program commenced

on January 1, 2008, these requirements need only be met from January 1, 2008 forward.

Credit amount. The credit is equal to the eligible education loan payments (deﬁ ned below) paid by the taxpayer during the

tax year, limited to the benchmark loan payment amount. The benchmark loan payment amount is based on the in-state

tuition and fees for the Maine Community College System or the University of Maine System, depending on whether the de-

gree is an associate degree or a bachelor’s degree and depending on the year of graduation. See Title 20-A, § 12542 (2-A).

The benchmark loan payment amounts for 2011 are $68 for an associate degree and $344 for a bachelor’s degree.

If the loan payments are made by both the graduate and the graduate’s employer(s), the total combined credit of the gradu-

ate and all employers may not exceed the benchmark loan payment amount multiplied by the number of months during the

tax year eligible loan payments were made. Also, a graduate and an employer may each claim a credit only on the basis of

loan payments they each made. For example, a graduate may not claim a credit for a loan payment made by the employer.

A credit may be claimed for both spouses on a married-joint return if both spouses are qualifying graduates. The credit may

not reduce the tax due to less than zero. Any unused credit amount may be carried forward for up to ten years.

Eligible education loan payments, for purposes of this worksheet, are payments made by, or on behalf of, a qualifying

graduate with respect to education loans that are part of a ﬁ nancial aid package for attendance at a Maine college or uni-

versity. Payments made in excess of the annual amount required by the ﬁ nancial institution are not eligible for the credit.

Payments made on loans with a term fewer than eight years do not qualify as eligible education loan payments. Payments

made on reﬁ nanced eligible education loans qualify for the credit as long as the reﬁ nanced loan remains separate from any

other debt incurred.

SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS

Enter your name and social security number (“SSN”) in the spaces provided. Indicate whether you received a

bachelor’s degree or an associate degree. Enter date you graduated.

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