II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 100 

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 6, 2009 

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 2009’’. 

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 (relating to 


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1 additional itemized deductions for individuals) is amend2 ed— 

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

4 and 

5 (2) by inserting after section 223 the following 

6 new section: 

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

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

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

10 taxable year an amount equal to the qualified home school 

11 education expenses paid by the taxpayer during the tax12 able year on behalf of each qualifying child of the tax13 payer. 

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

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

16 lesser of— 

17 ‘‘(1) $500 for any qualifying child of the tax18 payer, and 

19 ‘‘(2) $2,000 in the aggregate for all qualifying 

20 children of the taxpayer. 

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

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

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

24 24(c). 


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1 ‘‘(2) QUALIFIED HOME SCHOOL EDUCATION EX2 PENSES.— 

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

4 home school education expenses’ means ex5 penses for— 

6 ‘‘(i) books, supplies, and other equip7 ment necessary for a course of instruction 

8 in a classroom environment, 

9 ‘‘(ii) academic tutoring, 

10 ‘‘(iii) special needs services for quali11 fying children with disabilities (within the 

12 meaning of the Americans With Disabil13 ities Act of 1990), and 

14 ‘‘(iv) any computer technology or 

15 equipment (as defined in section 

16 170(e)(6)(F)(i)) or Internet access and re17 lated services, if such technology, equip18 ment, or services are to be used by the 

19 qualifying child and the qualifying child’s 

20 family during any of the years that the 

21 qualifying child is educated in an elemen22 tary or secondary home school (not includ23 ing computer equipment designed for 

24 sports, games, or hobbies unless such 


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1 equipment is primarily educational in na2 ture), 

3 in connection with a course of instruction in an 

4 elementary or secondary home school. 

5 ‘‘(B) ELEMENTARY OR SECONDARY HOME

6 SCHOOL.—The term ‘elementary or secondary 

7 home school’ includes any home school that 

8 meets the requirements of State law applicable 

9 to such home schools and that provides elemen10 tary education or secondary education (kinder11 garten through grade 12), whether or not such 

12 home school is deemed a private school for pur13 poses of State law. 

14 ‘‘(d) SPECIAL RULES.— 

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

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

17 shall be allowed under subsection (a) for any ex18 pense for which a deduction or credit is allowed to 

19 the taxpayer under any other provision of this chap20 ter. 

21 ‘‘(2) ADJUSTMENT FOR COVERDELL EDU22 CATION SAVINGS ACCOUNT DISTRIBUTIONS AND

23 HOPE AND LIFETIME LEARNING CREDITS.—The 

24 amount of qualified home school education expenses 

25 taken into account under subsection (a) with respect 


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1 to a qualifying child for a taxable year shall be re2 duced by the sum of— 

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

4 under section 25A with respect to such child for 

5 such taxable year, and 

6 ‘‘(B) any amounts excludable under section 

7 530(d)(2) for such taxable year by reason of 

8 the qualified elementary and secondary edu9 cation expenses (as defined in section 

10 530(b)(3)) of such child for such taxable year. 

11 ‘‘(3) ADJUSTMENT FOR CERTAIN SCHOLAR12 SHIPS, ETC.—Rules similar to the rules under sec13 tion 25A(g)(2) shall apply for purposes of this sec14 tion. 

15 ‘‘(4) IDENTIFICATION REQUIREMENT, LIMITA16 TION ON TAXABLE YEAR OF DEDUCTION, ETC.— 

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

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

19 this section.’’. 

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

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

22 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking the item 

23 relating to section 224 and inserting the following new 

24 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, 2008. 

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 (defining standard deduction) is 

9 amended— 

10 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara11 graph (C), 

12 (2) by striking the period at the end of sub13 paragraph (D) and inserting ‘‘, and’’, and 

14 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub15 paragraph: 

16 ‘‘(E) the home school education expenses 

17 deduction.’’. 

18 (b) DEFINITION.—Section 63(c) of the Internal Rev19 enue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the 

20 following new paragraph: 

21 ‘‘(9) HOME SCHOOL EDUCATION EXPENSES DE22 DUCTION.— 

23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of para24 graph (1), the home school education expenses 

25 deduction is so much of the amount of the 


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1 qualified home school education expenses paid 

2 by the taxpayer during the taxable year on be3 half of each qualifying child of the taxpayer— 

4 ‘‘(i) as does not exceed $500 with re5 spect to each such qualifying child, and 

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

7 aggregate with respect to all such quali8 fying children. 

9 ‘‘(B) QUALIFYING CHILD; QUALIFIED

10 HOME SCHOOL EDUCATION EXPENSES.—For 

11 purposes of subparagraph (A)— 

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

13 meaning given to such term in section 

14 24(c), and 

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

16 education expenses’ has the meaning given 

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

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

19 the rules of section 224(d) shall apply for pur20 poses of this paragraph.’’. 

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

22 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

23 December 31, 2008. 

Æ 


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