Idaho Parental Choice Tax Credit

It’s a newly enacted, refundable tax credit program that provides nearly $50 million in state funds to full-time Idaho residents to pay for qualifying nonpublic school expenses for Idaho K-12 students ages 5 to18 and Idaho students ages 5 to 21 with a qualifying disability who require ancillary personnel. The program allows parents to apply for a parental choice tax credit or a one-time advance payment of up to $5,000 for each eligible student, and up to $7,500 for each eligible student with a qualifying disability.

An eligible student must be no younger than 5 and no older than 18 as of December 31 of the tax year. An eligible student with a qualifying disability must be no younger than 5 and no older than 21 as of December 31 of the tax year. 

Note: The program requires that parents whose modified adjusted gross income doesn’t exceed 300% of the federal poverty level receive priority. For this application season, we’ll be using the 2024 federal poverty level. Find your modified adjusted gross income on line 7 of your 2024 Form 40, Idaho Individual Income Tax Return. The program also requires us to review applications on a first-come, first-served basis.

The advance payment is a one-time payment that, when funded, you can use to pay for expected, qualifying expenses related to nonpublic academic instruction for an eligible student. The amount of the advance payment is up to $5,000 per eligible student, or up to $7,500 for each eligible student with a qualifying disability.  

To be considered for the advance payment for 2026: 

• Your modified adjusted gross income can’t exceed 300% of the 2024 federal poverty level. Find your modified adjusted gross income on line 7 of your 2024 Form 40, Idaho Individual Income Tax Return. 

• You, your student, and the nonpublic instruction must meet the other criteria that exist for the parental choice tax credit. 

If you’re awarded the advance payment for 2026, you must save receipts for actual, qualifying expenses you paid. You’ll be required to provide them to the Tax Commission. Any funds from the advance payment that you didn’t use for qualifying expenses in 2026 must be repaid to the Tax Commission.

You should:

1. Carefully read all FAQs to ensure you and your potential expenses qualify.
2. By November 1, 2025, ensure you’ve filed your 2024 Form 40, Idaho Individual Income Tax Return. You must submit a return even if Idaho normally doesn’t require you to submit one. See FAQ 7.
3. By December 1, 2025, register for a TAP account. (Registration can take up to 14 days.) You can’t apply for the parental choice tax credit or advance payment until you have a TAP account for individual income tax. You can only get a TAP account after we have processed at least one of your Idaho returns. Register at idaho.gov/NewTAP. See FAQ 9.
4. Start saving receipts for qualifying expenses. See FAQs 3 and 3a.

Note: Submitting an application doesn’t guarantee that you’ll get the parental choice tax credit or advance payment.

November 1, 2025: File a 2024 Idaho Form 40 tax return by this date.

December 1, 2025: Get a TAP account by this date.

January 15, 2026: First day to apply.

March 15, 2026: Last day to apply.

April 15, 2026: We’ll notify parents whether they’ll receive the parental choice tax credit, the advance payment, or both.

To be determined: We might reopen the application process if any funds remain.

Note: The filing deadline for 2025 tax returns is April 15, 2026. We recommend you file your return anyway, even if you think you might be awarded the parental choice tax credit, to avoid any potential penalty and interest. If you do receive the parental choice tax credit, you can file an amended return.

Yes. To be eligible, you as the parent and your eligible children must be full-time residents. You must be full-time residents in 2024 and 2025 to apply. You must have filed a 2024 Form 40, Idaho Individual Income Tax Return, that lists your children as dependents.

No. Once we award the parental choice tax credit or advance payment through the application process, it goes directly to a parent, guardian, or foster parent of each eligible student. 

Qualifying expenses include tuition to a nonpublic school or a base curriculum that covers, at a minimum, these four core subjects:

• English language arts
• Mathematics
• Science
• Social studies

Qualifying expenses would also include expenses related to the four core subjects. Unlike Empowering Parents grants, qualifying expenses don’t include expenses for extracurricular or nonacademic activities.

It’s not possible to provide a complete list of qualifying expenses. When considering purchases to submit if you’re awarded the credit or the advance payment, remember that expenses must be:

• Directly related to the education of the eligible student.
• Reasonable and necessary to fulfil the requirements of the academic instruction.

Examples of expenses

Examples of expenses that might qualify include:

• School tuition or fees that include English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies (four core subjects), at a minimum
• A base curriculum that includes the four core subjects, at a minimum
• Textbooks for the four core subjects
• Tutoring for the four core subjects
• Courses associated with nationally standardized assessments
• Transportation

A few examples of expenses that won’t qualify include:

• Expenses for anyone not qualified for the parental choice tax credit or advance payment
• Extracurricular and nonacademic activities outside of the four core subjects
• Homeschool academic instruction that a parent provides
• Dual-credit courses for college classes taken in high school
• Vacations
• Uniforms
• Big-screen televisions
• Gaming computers
• Vehicles
• Entertainment

To apply for the parental choice tax credit, keep your receipts of expenses paid in 2025 to your current nonpublic school or expenses you paid for homeschool instruction.

To apply for the advance payment, you’ll need to estimate expected expenses for tax year 2026.

To qualify for the parental choice tax credit or advance payment, academic instruction for eligible students must include the core subjects of English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies, at a minimum.

If the nonpublic school that your child is attending isn’t accredited, you must document their growth as a student using a portfolio of evidence or a learning record.  

If awarded the parental choice tax credit, you must submit your receipts when you file your 2025 income tax return (See FAQ1c). You only receive credit for qualifying expenses that you properly documented with receipts.

For the advance payment, you must provide receipts to prove that you spent the money you received for qualifying expenses. You must repay any money you spent on nonqualifying expenses or on qualifying expenses without proper receipts.  

You must repay any money that you spend outside the provisions of the law. A financial penalty and interest might apply. If you receive the parental choice tax credit or advance payment and are found to have willfully provided false information to obtain them, that’s considered tax fraud. Civil and criminal penalties—up to felony charges—might apply.

A nonpublic school means a private school, microschool, or learning pod that provides academic instruction to eligible students. Nonpublic academic instruction can be delivered in person, online, virtually, or through a combination of these methods. A nonpublic school will charge tuition while a public school doesn’t. For example, students who attend public schools such as the Idaho Home Learning Academy or the Idaho Virtual Academy aren’t eligible for the parental choice tax credit or the advance payment.

You can’t claim the parental choice tax credit or use the advance payment for any semester when your student is enrolled in a public school for any reason. Check with the public school if you’re not sure that your child is enrolled. The law specifically states that eligible students can’t be enrolled full-time or part-time in a public school, public charter school, public virtual charter school, public magnet school, or part-time kindergarten.

You can file a 2024 Idaho Form 40 tax return even if you don’t have taxable income. We’ve provided these special filing instructions. You should file your return as soon as possible (by November 1, 2025, at the latest) to allow time for us to process the return.

You can apply for the 2025 parental tax credit or the 2026 advance payment from January 15, 2026, through March 15, 2026. You must apply using TAP (see FAQ 9). Remember this is a first-come, first-served program, so we recommend you apply as soon as possible. In addition, you must keep receipts for qualifying expenses (see FAQ 3).

The law requires us to give priority to parents whose modified adjusted gross income doesn’t exceed 300% of the federal poverty level. We process these applications in the order in which we received them. We’ll place applicants whose modified adjusted gross income exceeds 300% of the federal poverty level on a waitlist until we’ve processed priority applications. We then process waitlist applications in the order in which we received them.

We anticipate that we’ll award all the funds during the initial application process. However, if funds are still available, we’ll reopen the application process.

You’ll apply online through our Taxpayer Access Point (TAP). You’ll need to get a TAP account if you don’t already have one for individual income tax. Register at tax.idaho.gov/NewTAP.  We suggest you register for a TAP account by December 1, 2025, at the latest so you’ll be ready to fill out your online application in January. It can take from one day to two weeks to register for the account, depending on your circumstances. We must have processed at least one of your Idaho returns before you can get a TAP account.

To find out more about TAP, visit our introduction page. To get a TAP account, register at tax.idaho.gov/NewTAP.   

Note: To qualify for the program, you must have filed a 2024 Idaho Form 40 tax return.

No. You can apply for all your eligible children on one application.

Yes, as long as the school meets the requirements of the law. If the nonpublic school that your child is attending isn’t accredited, you must document their growth as a student using a portfolio of evidence or a learning record.

No.

Yes.