Expenses up to $50 per month can be deducted for a child living with you from a Student Exchange Program.

Per IRS Publication 526 Charitable Contributions, page 5:

Expenses Paid for Student Living With You

You may be able to deduct some expenses of having a student live with you. You can deduct qualifying expenses for a foreign or American student who:

1. Lives in your home under a written agreement between you and a qualified organization (defined later) as part of a program of the organization to provide educational opportunities for the student,
2. Isn't your relative (defined later) or dependent (also defined later), and
3. Is a full-time student in the twelfth or any lower grade at a school in the United States.

TIP: You can deduct up to $50 a month for each full calendar month the student lives with you. Any month when conditions (1) through (3) are met for 15 or more days counts as a full month.

Mutual exchange program. You can't deduct the costs of a foreign student living in your home under a mutual exchange program through which your child will live with a family in a foreign country.

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Reporting expenses for student living with you. If you claim amounts paid for a student who lives with you, as described earlier under Expenses Paid for Student Living With You, you must submit with your return:

1. A copy of your agreement with the organization sponsoring the student placed in your household,
2. A summary of the various items you paid to maintain the student, and
3. A statement that gives:
   a. The date the student became a member of your household,
   b. The dates of his or her full-time attendance at school, and
   c. The name and location of the school.

Note. Because of this requirement you will need to paper-file your return.

You will report these expenses as a cash contribution on Schedule A (Form 1040) Itemized Deductions, Line 16.

To enter this deduction into the TaxAct^® program, go to our Volunteer Out-of-Pocket Expenses in Giving Services FAQ.

Note that any link in the information above is updated each year automatically and will take you to the most recent version of the webpage or document at the time it is accessed.