Are Courses and Education Tax Deductible? 2026 Guide

When it counts

Courses, workshops and certifications that maintain or improve skills you use in your current business.
Books and materials for that education.
A conference that benefits your business. The registration counts, and its travel and lodging are figured as travel.
Related travel, when it follows the travel rules.
It goes on Schedule C, line 27b, other expenses.

Education that qualifies you for a new trade or business. Training for a different line of work is personal or a capital cost.
Education that meets the minimum requirements to enter your current business.
Courses unrelated to your current business, like a hobby class.
A conference or event that is not connected to your business.

You are a freelance photographer and you pay $600.00 for an advanced lighting workshop.

If the same photographer pays $4,000.00 for a nursing program, that qualifies them for a new line of work. It is not a business deduction.

The receipt, with the date and amount.
A sentence on how the course relates to your current work.
The course name and provider.
For a conference, the registration receipt and the reason it helps your business.

Yes, on the same terms as a class in person, as long as it keeps or improves skills you use in your business.

A degree that qualifies you for a new trade or business is not. Whether other degrees count depends on the facts, so it is worth asking a tax pro.

Those are separate. They are claimed on your personal return, and Publication 970 explains them. This guide is about education as a business expense.

Also cited by the WriteOff rules: 26 U.S.C. sections 162 and 262, and Treas. Reg. section 1.162-5.