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Ezel / Tax Rulings / IL
IL IT 10-0010-GIL Illinois Income Tax 2010-04-19

Did tuition paid to a California school for teacher-led online instruction at home qualify for Illinois's education expense credit?

Short answer: No. Section 201(m)'s definition of a qualifying school required tuition, book fees, and lab fees to be paid to a school located in Illinois. The child received internet instruction at home from teachers employed by a California school, and the tuition was paid to that California school. IDOR therefore said the payment did not qualify, regardless of whether the arrangement was described as private school or home schooling.

Apply this to your situation

This page answers the general question as of 2010. Ezel answers yours, under current Illinois tax law, with citations.

Currency note: this ruling is from 2010
Subsequent statutory amendments, regulation changes, court decisions, or later rulings may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current tax advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, rate, or position mentioned here.
Disclaimer: This is an official 2010 Illinois Department of Revenue General Information Letter applying then-current education-expense-credit definitions to tuition paid to a California online school. A GIL is NOT a statement of Department policy and is NOT binding on the Department. School location and status, who provides instruction, custodian and pupil eligibility, expense type, payment recipient, tax year, and current credit statutes, forms, and guidance can change the result.
About this page: The plain-English summary, reader guidance, and Q&A below were written by Ezel based on the official state tax ruling. The original ruling (linked on this page as a PDF) is the authoritative source for any reliance.
View original ruling (PDF)

Plain-English summary

The tuition did not qualify because it was paid to a school located in California. The child received teacher-led internet instruction at home, but Section 201(m)'s definition of “school” required qualifying tuition, book fees, and lab fees to be paid to a school located in Illinois.

IDOR therefore did not need to decide whether the arrangement should be labeled private school or home schooling. The out-of-state location of the school receiving tuition independently defeated the credit.

What this means for you

Identify the school to which the payment is made and confirm that it meets the Illinois-location requirement before claiming tuition or fee amounts for online instruction.

Common questions

Q: Did learning at home make the tuition eligible?
A: No. The payment still went to a California school.

Q: Did the private-school-versus-home-school label control?
A: No. IDOR resolved the question through the Illinois-school requirement.

Citations and references

  • 35 ILCS 5/201(m)

Subject

Credits – Other Rulings

Source

Original ruling text

IT 10-0010-GIL 04/19/2010 CREDITS – OTHER RULINGS
General Information Letter: Tuition paid to a California school for home-based internet
schooling does not qualify for the education expense credit.
April 19, 2010
Dear:
This is in response to your letter dated February 24, 2010 in which you state the following:
I have recently spoken with a representative on the phone in regards to whether an internet
school would be considered a private school or whether the student is considered to be home
schooled. He suggested I write to you and ask for a general information letter as to the ruling
for this situation.
I have a client that has paid tuition to SCHOOL in California. This school has an internet
program for teaching children at home on the internet. My client does not personally teach her
child. All of her instruction comes from the teachers on the internet through SCHOOL.
If my client’s child is considered to be home schooled, they will qualify for the IL Education
Credit. Although, if this school is considered a private school, they will not qualify since the
tuition is being paid to California.
According to the Department of Revenue (“Department”) regulations, the Department may issue only
two types of letter rulings: Private Letter Rulings (“PLR”) and General Information Letters (“GIL”).
The regulations explaining these two types of rulings issued by the Department can be found in 2
Ill.Adm.Code §1200, or on the website http://www.tax.illinois.gov/LegalInformation/regs/part1200.
Due to the nature of your inquiry and the information presented in your letter, we are required to
respond with a GIL. GILs are designed to provide background information on specific topics. GILs,
however, are not binding on the Department.
The statutory language describing the Education Expense Credit is Section 201(m) of the Illinois
Income Tax Act (“IITA”; 35 ILCS 5/101 et seq.). In addition to authorizing the Education Expense
Credit, the statute defines four terms critical in determining who will qualify for this credit: “qualifying
pupils,” “qualified education expense,” “school,” and “custodian.” The definition of “school” states
that in order to qualify for the Education Expense Credit, the tuition, book fees and lab fees must be
paid to a school located in Illinois. As a result, any amounts paid to SCHOOL located in California will
not qualify as an expense for purposes of the Illinois Education Expense Credit.
As stated above, this is a general information letter which does not constitute a statement of policy
that either applies, interprets or prescribes tax law. It is not binding on the Department. Should you
have additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact our office.
Sincerely,

Heidi Scott
Staff Attorney -- Income Tax

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