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You may be able to increase the combined value of an education credit and certain educational assistance if the student includes some or all of the educational assistance in income in the year it is received. For details, see Adjustments to Qualified Education Expenses, in chapters 2 and 3 of Pub. 970. Some tax-free educational assistance received after 2013 may be treated as a refund of qualified education expenses paid in 2013. This tax-free educational assistance is any tax-free educational assistance received by you or anyone else after 2013 for qualified education expenses paid on behalf of a student in 2013 (or attributable to enrollment at an eligible educational institution during 2013). If this tax-free educational assistance is received after 2013 but before you file your 2013 income tax return, see Refunds received after 2013 but before your income tax return is filed, later. If this tax-free educational assistance is received after 2013 and after you file your 2013 income tax return, see Refunds received after 2013 and after your income tax return is filed, later. Refunds. A refund of qualified education expenses may reduce qualified education expenses for the tax year or may require you to repay (recapture) the credit that you claimed in an earlier year. Some tax-free educational assistance received after 2013 may be treated as a refund. See Tax-free educational assistance, earlier. Refunds received in 2013. For each student, figure the adjusted qualified education expenses for 2013 by adding all the qualified education expenses paid in 2013 and subtracting any refunds of those expenses received from the eligible educational institution during 2013. Refunds received after 2013 but before your income tax return is filed. If anyone receives a refund after 2013 of qualified education expenses paid on behalf of a student in 2013 and the refund is received before you file your 2013 income tax return, reduce the amount of qualified education expenses for 2013 by the amount of the refund. Refunds received after 2013 and after your income tax return is filed. If anyone receives a refund after 2013 of qualified education expenses paid on behalf of a student in 2013 and the refund is received after you file your 2013 income tax return, you may need to repay some or all of the credit that you claimed. See Credit recapture, next. Credit recapture. If any tax-free educational assistance for the qualified education expenses paid in 2013, or any refund of your qualified education expenses paid in 2013, is received after you file your 2013 income tax return, you must recapture (repay) any excess credit. You do this by refiguring the amount of your adjusted qualified education expenses for 2013 by reducing the expenses by the amount of the refund or tax-free educational assistance. You then refigure your education credit(s) for 2013 and figure the amount by which your 2013 tax liability would have increased if you had claimed the refigured credit(s). Include that amount as an additional tax for the year the refund or tax-free assistance was received. Example. You paid $8,000 tuition and fees in December 2013 for your child's Spring semester beginning in January 2014. You filed your 2013 tax return on February 2, 2014, and claimed a lifetime learning credit of $1,600 ($8,000 qualified education expense paid x .20). You claimed no other tax credits. After you filed your return, your child withdrew from two courses and you received a refund of $1,400. You must refigure your 2013 lifetime learning credit using $6,600 ($8,000 qualified education expenses − $1,400 refund). The refigured credit is $1,320 and your tax liability increased by $280. You must include the difference of $280 ($1,600 credit originally claimed − $1,320 refigured credit) as additional tax on your 2014 income TIP tax return. See the instructions for your 2014 income tax return to determine where to include this tax. If you also pay qualified education expenses in 2014 for an academic period that begins in the first 3 months of 2014 and you receive tax-free educational assistance, or a refund, as described above, you may choose to reduce your qualified education expenses for 2014 instead of reducing your expenses for 2013. Eligible Educational Institution An eligible educational institution is generally any accredited public, nonprofit, or proprietary (private) college, university, vocational school, or other postsecondary institution. Also, the institution must be eligible to participate in a student aid program administered by the Department of Education. Virtually all accredited postsecondary institutions meet this definition. Additional Information See Pub. 970, chapters 2 and 3, for more information about these credits. Specific Instructions You must complete a separate Part III on page 2 for each individual for whom you are claiming either credit before you complete Parts I and II. Part I — Refundable American Opportunity Credit Line 1 Enter the amount from Part III, line 30. If you are claiming the American opportunity credit for more than one student, add the amounts from each student's Part III, line 30, and enter the total for those students on line 1. Line 3 Enter your modified adjusted gross income. Generally, your modified adjusted gross income is the amount on your Form 1040, line 38, or Form 1040A, line 22. However, if you are filing Form 2555, Form 2555-EZ, or Form 4563, or are excluding income from Puerto Rico, you must include on line 3 the amount of income you excluded. For details, see Pub. 970. Line 7 If you were under age 24 at the end of 2013 and the conditions listed below apply to you, you cannot claim any part of the American opportunity credit as a refundable credit on your tax return. Instead, you can claim your allowed credit, figured in Part II, only as a nonrefundable credit to reduce your tax. You do not qualify for a refundable American opportunity credit if 1 (a, b, or c), 2, and 3 below apply to you. TIP CAUTION ! -4- Instructions for Form 8863 (2013)