If you homeschool in Minnesota and you are buying curriculum this fall, hang on to those receipts. You may be leaving money on the table every single year. Not through a scholarship you have to win, and not through a program that has to approve your vendor first. Through your own state tax return.

Minnesota has two separate education tax benefits for families, and most homeschoolers we talk to have either never heard of them or assume they do not qualify. You probably do.

1. The K-12 Education Subtraction

This one has no income limit at all. It reduces the income you pay Minnesota tax on, based on what you spent educating your children.

Every Minnesota family with qualifying expenses can take it. If you buy curriculum, you almost certainly have qualifying expenses. The Department of Revenue currently lists the maximum subtraction as $1,625 per child in kindergarten through 6th grade and $2,500 per child in 7th through 12th grade.

2. The K-12 Education Credit

This is the bigger one, because a credit comes straight off your tax bill rather than off your taxable income.

• It is worth 75% of your qualifying expenses, up to $1,500 per child.
• There is an income limit. The Department of Revenue currently lists the maximum adjusted gross income as $81,820 with one or two qualifying children, $84,820 with three, and $87,820 with four, adding $3,000 for each child after that.
• The limits are adjusted each year, so check the current figures before you file.

If your income is above the phase-out, do not stop reading. The subtraction in section one has no income limit, and you can still take that.

What actually counts

Minnesota is fairly generous about what qualifies, as long as it is required for a normal school day in a subject usually taught in public school grades K-12:

• Textbooks and curricula
• Instructional materials for homeschooling
• Educational equipment, including musical instruments and calculators
• Transportation and fees for field trips

There is one restriction worth understanding clearly, because it catches families off guard: the materials cannot be primarily religious in nature. A great deal of homeschool curriculum on the market is written from an explicitly religious point of view, which means it does not qualify for either benefit.

Our curriculum is secular. Every Education Guide, Vocabulary program, and Language Arts course we publish is written to teach the subject, not a worldview. That is a deliberate choice we made years ago, and in Minnesota it happens to mean our materials fit inside what the state will let you claim.

Keep your receipts

Minnesota requires documentation for both the subtraction and the credit. Itemized receipts or invoices, showing what you bought and what it cost. Every order you place with us generates one automatically, so save the confirmation email.

Ask your district about materials too

Separately from the tax benefits, Minnesota funds textbooks, individualized instructional materials, and standardized tests for students in nonpublic and home schools. The way this works is that you request the materials through your local public school district, and the district provides them.

This one runs on a calendar, and for this school year the window has already closed: family requests were due in mid-September, with district sign-up by October 1. If you missed it, you are not alone, and it comes around again every fall.

Put a reminder on your calendar for late summer next year, then call your district office and ask what they need from you and when. A phone call in August is all it takes to be ready for the next round.

The short version

• You do not need anyone to approve a vendor. You buy what you need and claim it.
• The subtraction has no income limit.
• The credit is worth up to $1,500 per child if your income qualifies.
• Secular curriculum qualifies. Religious curriculum generally does not.
• Keep every receipt.
• The district materials program closed for this year in September. Set a reminder to call your district next August.

We are not tax professionals, and your situation is your own. Check with the Minnesota Department of Revenue or your preparer before you file. But do check, because a lot of Minnesota families are paying full price out of pocket for something the state was already willing to help with.

Happy Homeschooling!

Keep exploring: homeschool funding options and ESA-approved curriculum.