How to resolve Lacerte diagnostic ref. 902 - Education credit and tuition deduction suppressed on Form 1040

When preparing an Individual return, you may encounter the following e-file critical diagnostic:

• e-file: Student#: The education credit and tuition fees deduction calculation were suppressed because this student is duplicated in Screen 38.1. The same social security number may be used only once to claim the American Opportunity Credit, Lifetime Learning Credit, or tuition and fees deduction. Correct the duplicated input to restore the calculations. (ref. #902)

This diagnostic will occur if there are multiple 1098-Ts entered separately for the same student.

To resolve this diagnostic:

1. Go to Screen 38.1, Education Credits/ Tuition Deduction.
   • In 2013 and prior this was screen Screen 38 .
2. Select the second 1098-T entered for the student from the left navigation panel.
3. Select Delete.
4. Repeat Steps 2 and 3 for each additional 1098-T entered.
5. Select the first 1098-T entered.
6. Scroll down to the Additional Institutions Attended subsection.
7. Hold down Ctrl+E in Additional institutions attended (Ctrl+E).
8. Enter the applicable information in the Additional institutions attended window.
9. Scroll down to the Current Year Expenses subsection.
10. Combine the totals of all 1098-Ts and enter the amount in Qualified tuition and fees, Books and supplies.