II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 87 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a tax deduction 

for itemizers and nonitemizers for expenses relating to home schooling. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 23 (legislative day, JANUARY 3), 2013 

Mr. VITTER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide 

a tax deduction for itemizers and nonitemizers for expenses relating to home schooling. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Home School Opportu5 nities Make Education Sound Act of 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ITEMIZER DEDUCTION FOR HOME SCHOOL EDU7 CATION EXPENSES. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part VII of subchapter B of chap9 ter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended— 


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1 (1) by redesignating section 224 as section 225, 

2 and 

3 (2) by inserting after section 223 the following 

4 new section: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 224. HOME SCHOOL EDUCATION EXPENSES. 

6 ‘‘(a) ALLOWANCE OF DEDUCTION.—In the case of an 

7 individual, there shall be allowed as a deduction for the 

8 taxable year an amount equal to the qualified home school 

9 education expenses paid by the taxpayer during the tax10 able year on behalf of each qualifying child of the tax11 payer. 

12 ‘‘(b) MAXIMUM DEDUCTION.—The deduction allowed 

13 by subsection (a) for the taxable year shall not exceed the 

14 lesser of— 

15 ‘‘(1) $500 for any qualifying child of the tax16 payer, and 

17 ‘‘(2) $2,000 in the aggregate for all qualifying 

18 children of the taxpayer. 

19 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 

20 ‘‘(1) QUALIFYING CHILD.—The term ‘qualifying 

21 child’ has the meaning given to such term in section 

22 24(c). 

23 ‘‘(2) QUALIFIED HOME SCHOOL EDUCATION EX24 PENSES.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified 

2 home school education expenses’ means ex3 penses for— 

4 ‘‘(i) books, supplies, and other equip5 ment necessary for a course of instruction 

6 in a classroom environment, 

7 ‘‘(ii) academic tutoring, 

8 ‘‘(iii) special needs services for quali9 fying children with disabilities (within the 

10 meaning of the Americans With Disabil11 ities Act of 1990), and 

12 ‘‘(iv) any computer technology or 

13 equipment (as defined in section 

14 170(e)(6)(F)(i)) or Internet access and re15 lated services, if such technology, equip16 ment, or services are to be used by the 

17 qualifying child and the qualifying child’s 

18 family during any of the years that the 

19 qualifying child is educated in an elemen20 tary or secondary home school (not includ21 ing computer equipment designed for 

22 sports, games, or hobbies unless such 

23 equipment is primarily educational in na24 ture), 


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1 in connection with a course of instruction in an 

2 elementary or secondary home school. 

3 ‘‘(B) ELEMENTARY OR SECONDARY HOME

4 SCHOOL.—The term ‘elementary or secondary 

5 home school’ includes any home school that 

6 meets the requirements of State law applicable 

7 to such home schools and that provides elemen8 tary education or secondary education (kinder9 garten through grade 12), whether or not such 

10 home school is deemed a private school for pur11 poses of State law. 

12 ‘‘(d) SPECIAL RULES.— 

13 ‘‘(1) DENIAL OF DOUBLE BENEFIT.—Except as 

14 provided in paragraphs (2) and (3), no deduction 

15 shall be allowed under subsection (a) for any ex16 pense for which a deduction or credit is allowed to 

17 the taxpayer under any other provision of this chap18 ter. 

19 ‘‘(2) ADJUSTMENT FOR COVERDELL EDU20 CATION SAVINGS ACCOUNT DISTRIBUTIONS AND

21 HOPE AND LIFETIME LEARNING CREDITS.—The 

22 amount of qualified home school education expenses 

23 taken into account under subsection (a) with respect 

24 to a qualifying child for a taxable year shall be re25 duced by the sum of— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the amount of any credit allowed 

2 under section 25A with respect to such child for 

3 such taxable year, and 

4 ‘‘(B) any amounts excludable under section 

5 530(d)(2) for such taxable year by reason of 

6 the qualified elementary and secondary edu7 cation expenses (as defined in section 

8 530(b)(3)) of such child for such taxable year. 

9 ‘‘(3) ADJUSTMENT FOR CERTAIN SCHOLAR10 SHIPS, ETC.—Rules similar to the rules under sec11 tion 25A(g)(2) shall apply for purposes of this sec12 tion. 

13 ‘‘(4) IDENTIFICATION REQUIREMENT, LIMITA14 TION ON TAXABLE YEAR OF DEDUCTION, ETC.— 

15 Rules similar to the rules under paragraphs (2), (4), 

16 and (5) of section 222(d) shall apply for purposes of 

17 this section.’’. 

18 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

19 for part VII of subchapter B of chapter 1 of the Internal 

20 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking the item 

21 relating to section 224 and inserting the following new 

22 items: 

‘‘224. Home school education expenses. 

‘‘225. Cross reference.’’. 


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1 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

2 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

3 December 31, 2012. 

4 SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL STANDARD DEDUCTION FOR HOME 

5 SCHOOL EDUCATION EXPENSES FOR NON6 ITEMIZERS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 63(c)(1) of the Internal 

8 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended— 

9 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara10 graph (D), 

11 (2) by striking the period at the end of sub12 paragraph (E) and inserting ‘‘, and’’, and 

13 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub14 paragraph: 

15 ‘‘(F) the home school education expenses 

16 deduction.’’. 

17 (b) DEFINITION.—Section 63(c) of the Internal Rev18 enue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the 

19 following new paragraph: 

20 ‘‘(10) HOME SCHOOL EDUCATION EXPENSES

21 DEDUCTION.— 

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of para23 graph (1), the home school education expenses 

24 deduction is so much of the amount of the 

25 qualified home school education expenses paid 


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1 by the taxpayer during the taxable year on be2 half of each qualifying child of the taxpayer— 

3 ‘‘(i) as does not exceed $500 with re4 spect to each such qualifying child, and 

5 ‘‘(ii) as does not exceed $2,000 in the 

6 aggregate with respect to all such quali7 fying children. 

8 ‘‘(B) QUALIFYING CHILD; QUALIFIED

9 HOME SCHOOL EDUCATION EXPENSES.—For 

10 purposes of subparagraph (A)— 

11 ‘‘(i) the term ‘qualifying child’ has the 

12 meaning given to such term in section 

13 24(c), and 

14 ‘‘(ii) the term ‘qualified home school 

15 education expenses’ has the meaning given 

16 to such term in section 224(c)(2). 

17 ‘‘(C) SPECIAL RULES.—Rules similar to 

18 the rules of section 224(d) shall apply for pur19 poses of this paragraph.’’. 

20 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

21 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

22 December 31, 2012. 

Æ 


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