Please note special IRS instructions for claiming tuition deductions Note the special IRS instructions for taxpayers who want to claim the above-the-line tuition deduction. Congress belatedly reinstated the tuition and fees tax deduction in December retroactively (it had expired Jan. 1, 2006). The IRS had already sent its paper forms to the printer before Congress acted, so there is no place on the form 1040 for the deduction. Further, IRS needs to reprogram its software (and so will the online and software providers) to allow for the deduction, so the key piece of advice is that no returns claiming the tuition and fee deduction should be filed until early February. More information including instructions on how to fill out paper forms, is available at: www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=165640,00.html . - Payroll.