How much can be deducted from tuition?
Tuition deductions are limited to an annual amount based on educational level and are applicable per student.
Individuals may deduct payments for educational services at the levels from basic education to upper secondary that they make for themselves, for their spouse or the person with whom they live in common-law marriage, and for their parents or children, provided that said persons do not receive income equal to or greater than an annual UMA, in accordance with article 1.8. of the presidential decree of December 26, 2013 that grants various tax benefits.
The amounts, in accordance with article 1.10, are the same since fiscal year 2014, so they have not been updated with inflation.
-Preschool: 14,200 pesos
-Elementary: 12,900 pesos
-Secondary 19,900 pesos
-Technical professional 17,100 pesos
-Bachillerato or its equivalent: 24,500 pesos.
Deductions do not apply to professional or college level expenses.
If in the same fiscal year, a person completed two educational levels, for example, he went from primary to secondary, the amount that applies to deduct is the highest, which in this case is secondary. The deductions do not apply to expenses for registrations or re-registrations, details the 2013 decree.
To make this deduction valid, educational institutions must separate in the digital tax receipt the corresponding amount for the student’s education.
School transportation
Expenses for school transportation are tax deductible as long as they are applied only to descendants in a straight line (children), it is mandatory in the area of residence of the school or when this expense is included in the tuition for all students, details the Income Tax Law in article 151, section VII.
For these purposes, the corresponding amount for school transportation must be separated in the voucher issued by the educational institution.
How to deduct school expenses?
Expenses for tuition and school transportation are presented in the annual ISR declaration, with the vouchers that are issued, and mostly registered in the Tax Administration Service (SAT) system at the time of payment, so they may appear in the declaration preloaded, if you can’t upload them manually with your digital receipts on hand.
For the deductions to apply, you must take several considerations:
Boundaries. By sticking to a specific amount per school grade, tuition expenses are excluded from the global limit of personal deductions.
The global limit is equivalent to 15% of the taxpayer’s gross income or five UMAS per year (whichever amount is less), according to the Treasury’s 2022 Collection Waiver report. This limit does include the expense for school transportation, and others such as medical services, psychology or nutrition, refers to article 151 of the Income Tax Law.
Way to pay. It is very important that payments for both items be made by taxpayer’s personal check, electronic funds transfers, from accounts opened in the taxpayer’s name or by credit, debit, or service card.
Authorization. Authorized payments are those made to private educational institutions that have authorization or recognition of official validity of studies under the terms of the General Education Law.