What Can Teachers Write Off on Taxes and How Much?

Teachers can write off unreimbursed classroom expenses on their federal taxes through the educator expense deduction. For the 2025 tax year, eligible K–12 educators can deduct up to $300 of out-of-pocket costs for supplies, books, computer equipment, professional development, and certain health and safety items. It’s an above-the-line deduction, so you get the benefit even if you take the standard deduction.¹

Classroom Expenses You Can Deduct

The deduction covers items you paid for yourself and used in your work with students. Qualifying purchases include:²

Books and supplementary materials, including textbooks, workbooks, novels for class reading, and curriculum-related references.
General classroom supplies such as pens, markers, poster board, folders, and art supplies.
Computer equipment, including laptops and tablets, plus software and internet services used for instruction.
Professional development fees for courses related to the curriculum you teach or the students you serve.¹
Health and safety supplies used to prevent the spread of infectious disease in the classroom, such as masks, hand sanitizer, and disinfectant.²

Every item has to come out of your own pocket. If your school, district, PTA, or a grant program paid you back for a purchase, that portion doesn’t count. Spend $400 and get reimbursed $150, and only $250 remains potentially deductible.¹

What Doesn’t Qualify

Health and physical education teachers face a specific limit: supplies for those courses qualify only if they relate to athletics. Basketballs bought by a PE teacher count. General health textbooks for a non-athletics class do not.³

You also have to reduce your deductible amount by certain tax-free education benefits you received during the year: excludable interest from Series EE or I U.S. savings bonds used for higher education, tax-free distributions from a Coverdell Education Savings Account, and tax-free distributions from a 529 qualified tuition program.¹ Most teachers won’t have any of these, so this offset usually doesn’t apply.

Who Counts as an Eligible Educator

You qualify if you are a K–12 teacher, instructor, counselor, principal, or aide who works at least 900 hours during the school year at a school providing elementary or secondary education under your state’s law.¹ Public, private, or religious schools all qualify, as long as the state recognizes them as elementary or secondary institutions. Virtual K–12 schools count too, provided the school meets state recognition and you clear the 900-hour threshold.

College and university faculty are not eligible. The statute limits the deduction to kindergarten through grade 12 roles.² Homeschooling parents generally don’t qualify either, because the IRS requires the educator to work in a school recognized under state law. Exceptions may exist where a state classifies a homeschool as a private school.

How Much You Can Deduct and Where to Claim It

The cap for the 2025 tax year is $300 per eligible educator. Because the deduction is above the line, it reduces your adjusted gross income directly, and you don’t need to itemize to claim it.¹

Two eligible educators married and filing jointly can combine for up to $600, but each spouse stays capped at $300. If one spouse spent $400 and the other spent $200, the household deduction is $500: the first spouse’s $300 limit plus the second spouse’s full $200.¹ Keeping track of which spouse bought what matters when you’re close to the individual limit.

Report the total on Line 11 of Schedule 1 (Form 1040), which flows into the “Adjustments to Income” section of your return.⁴

What Changes for the 2026 Tax Year

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law on July 4, 2025, changes the educator expense deduction in two ways starting with the 2026 tax year. The $300 per-person cap goes away, and the deduction moves from an above-the-line adjustment to an itemized deduction on Schedule A.

That shift cuts two ways. Teachers who spend heavily out of pocket and already itemize come out ahead, because the deduction is no longer capped. Teachers whose itemized deductions don’t exceed the standard deduction will get no benefit at all. For 2026 the standard deduction is $16,100 for single filers and $32,200 for married couples filing jointly.⁵

Records to Keep

Save receipts, bank statements, and credit card records for every classroom purchase you plan to deduct. Organizing them by date as you go through the school year saves you from reconstructing a year of spending in April.

A short note tying each purchase to classroom use strengthens your position if the IRS asks. Something like “markers and poster board — used for student group project displays” is enough. The IRS generally requires you to keep records supporting a deduction for at least three years from the date you file the return claiming it.⁶ File your 2025 return in April 2026, and you should hold onto those receipts until at least April 2029.

State Tax Benefits

Some states offer their own credits or deductions for teachers who buy classroom supplies, separate from the federal deduction. Roughly 15 states have some form of provision, with amounts ranging from about $100 to $1,000. Some are credits that reduce your tax bill dollar-for-dollar; others are deductions that reduce your taxable income. Check your state’s department of revenue website or tax filing instructions to see what’s available where you teach.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 458, Educator Expense Deduction
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 62 – Adjusted Gross Income Defined
3
Internal Revenue Service. Deducting Teachers’ Educational Expenses
4
IRS.gov. 2025 Schedule 1 (Form 1040) – Additional Income and Adjustments to Income
5
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026, Including Amendments From the One Big Beautiful Bill
6
Internal Revenue Service. How Long Should I Keep Records?