422.12  Deductions from computed tax.
  1.  As used in this section:
  a.  “Dependent” has the same meaning as provided by the Internal Revenue Code.
  b.  “Textbooks” means books and other instructional materials and equipment used in elementary and secondary schools in teaching only those subjects legally and commonly taught in public elementary and secondary schools in this state and does not include instructional books and materials used in the teaching of religious tenets, doctrines, or worship, the purpose of which is to inculcate those tenets, doctrines, or worship. “Textbooks” includes books or materials used for extracurricular activities including sporting events, musical or dramatic events, speech activities, driver’s education, or programs of a similar nature.
  c.  “Tuition” means any charges for the expenses of personnel, buildings, equipment, and materials other than textbooks, and other expenses of elementary or secondary schools which relate to the teaching only of those subjects legally and commonly taught in public elementary and secondary schools in this state and which do not relate to the teaching of religious tenets, doctrines, or worship, the purpose of which is to inculcate those tenets, doctrines, or worship. “Tuition” includes those expenses which relate to extracurricular activities including sporting events, musical or dramatic events, speech activities, driver’s education, or programs of a similar nature.
  2.  There shall be deducted from but not to exceed the tax, after the same shall have been computed as provided in this division, the following:
  a.  A personal exemption credit in the following amounts:
  (1)  For an estate or trust, a single individual, or a married person filing a separate return, forty dollars.
  (2)  For a head of household, or a husband and wife filing a joint return, eighty dollars.
  (3)  For each dependent, an additional forty dollars.
  (4)  For a single individual, husband, wife, or head of household, an additional exemption of twenty dollars for each of said individuals who has attained the age of sixty-five years before the close of the tax year or on the first day following the end of the tax year.
  (5)  For a single individual, husband, wife, or head of household, an additional exemption of twenty dollars for each of said individuals who is blind at the close of the tax year. For the purposes of this subparagraph, an individual is blind only if the individual’s central visual acuity does not exceed twenty-two hundredths in the better eye with correcting lenses, or if the individual’s visual acuity is greater than twenty-two hundredths but is accompanied by a limitation in the fields of vision such that the widest diameter of the visual field subtends an angle no greater than twenty degrees.
  b.  A tuition credit equal to twenty-five percent of the first one thousand dollars which the taxpayer has paid to others for each dependent in grades kindergarten through twelve, for tuition and textbooks of each dependent in attending an elementary or secondary school situated in Iowa, which school is accredited or approved under section 256.11, which is not operated for profit, and which adheres to the provisions of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 and chapter 216. Notwithstanding any other provision, all other credits allowed under this subsection shall be deducted before the tuition credit under this paragraph. The department, when conducting an audit of a taxpayer’s return, shall also audit the tuition tax credit portion of the tax return.
  3.  For the purpose of this section, the determination of whether an individual is married shall be made in accordance with section 7703 of the Internal Revenue Code.
[C35, §6943-f12; C39, §6943.044; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §422.12]
83 Acts, ch 179, §9, 10, 22; 84 Acts, ch 1305, §32; 86 Acts, ch 1236, §6, 7; 86 Acts, ch 1241, §15; 87 Acts, ch 233, §494; 88 Acts, ch 1028, §22, 23; 89 Acts, ch 296, §42; 90 Acts, ch 1248, §9; 91 Acts, ch 159, §13; 95 Acts, ch 206, §2, 4; 96 Acts, ch 1168, §2, 3; 98 Acts, ch 1177, §7 – 10; 2006 Acts, ch 1158, §21; 2007 Acts, ch 161, §21, 22; 2009 Acts, ch 133, §140