Under what law/provision in the IRS that states piano tuition,ballet,etc are not tax deductible?

Question

Under what law/provision in the IRS that states piano tuition,ballet,etc are not tax deductible?

Answer 1

You are attempting to call piano lessons child care.  Piano lessons fall under TUTORING and are not allowed. See last sentence below.  You are not paying the piano teacher to watch your child, you are paying them to teach your child.  The IRS makes a distinction between the two.

From the 2441 instructions:

Care of the Qualifying Person

Care includes the cost of services for the qualifying person's well-being and protection. It does not include the cost of clothing or entertainment.

You can include the cost of care provided outside your home for your dependent under age 13 or any other qualifying person who regularly spends at least 8 hours a day in your home. If the care was provided by a dependent care center, the center must meet all applicable state and local regulations. A dependent care center is a place that provides care for more than six persons (other than persons who live there) and receives a fee, payment, or grant for providing services for any of those persons, even if the center is not run for profit.

You can include amounts paid for items other than the care of your child (such as food and schooling) only if the items are incidental to the care of the child and cannot be separated from the total cost. But do not include the cost of schooling for a child in kindergarten or above. You can include the cost of a day camp, even if it specializes in a particular activity, such as soccer. But do not include any expenses for sending your child to an overnight camp, summer school, or a tutoring program.

Answer 2

nowhere

to be deductable it has to be listed as deductable.

They do not list what is NOT deductable.

In general NO school expensive are deductable.

Those above are general considered hobbies.

Even for professionals,  training to become a profession is not deductable in most cases.

Consult your CPA

www.irs.gov

Answer 3

I would have to know more about the lessons.  If you take your child (or have your child taken) to lessons after school for example, that is not deductible.  

However, if there is an after-school program at a recreational center, and you enroll your child in the program so that you could work, those expenses are tax-deductible as child care.  If the program offers music or dance lessons, those expenses would be tax deductible because they are part of a program your child attended so that you could work.

Another example would be a music and arts summer camp.  If you enrolled your child in this summer camp while you worked, and there were music or dance lessons at the camp, those expenses would be deductible as child care.

Answer 4

The tax laws say what IS, not what is NOT, deductible.  If it isn't specifically allowed, then it's not deductible.

There's nothing in the tax code either that says a hot fudge sundae isn't deductible.  But it isn't.

Answer 5

I did my taxes at H&R block and the CPA asked me what my hobbies were to list them under deductions.

Luckily for me my hobby is photography and I have very expensive equipment. I do this for myself, not to sell them (yet). She told me that I can claim the equipment once and that I can also claim any trips that I go on if I take a bunch of pictures.

I would think that ballet is a hobby. But I don't know what the deal would be with the classes. Though I would think that the piano would count as equipment, so would ballet gear.