Minnesota families who homeschool can claim up to $1,500 per child in state income tax benefits for qualifying education expenses, and curriculum workbooks are on the approved list. The catch is that Minnesota does not run an upfront scholarship or ESA program. Instead, the state offers two separate tax benefits you claim after the fact: the K-12 Education Credit and the K-12 Education Subtraction.
If you have been saving receipts for workbooks, tutoring, and school supplies without knowing what to do with them, this guide walks you through both benefits, the rules homeschool families need to know, and how to plan your curriculum spending with tax time in mind.
What the Minnesota K-12 Education Credit and Subtraction Cover
Minnesota is one of the few states that gives homeschool parents a direct tax break on money they spend teaching their own children. The benefits sit on your state income tax return as two separate line items. You may qualify for one, the other, or sometimes both, depending on your income and how much you spent.
The K-12 Education Credit is refundable, which means you can get money back even if you owe no state tax. It covers 75 percent of qualifying expenses, up to a yearly cap. For most families, the cap works out to about $1,000 per child, and it can reach roughly $1,500 per child when your expenses and family size line up with the formulas. Because the credit is refundable, it functions more like a rebate check than a discount on taxes owed.
The K-12 Education Subtraction is different. It does not give you cash back. Instead, it reduces the amount of income Minnesota taxes, which lowers your overall tax bill. The Minnesota education subtraction has no income limit, so higher-earning families who cannot claim the credit can still use it. The subtraction is capped at $1,625 per child in grades K through 6 and $2,500 per child in grades 7 through 12.
Both benefits are claimed on Schedule M1ED, which attaches to your Form M1 Minnesota income tax return. You fill it out once, and the form calculates which benefit gives you the bigger return.
Credit vs. Subtraction: Which One Your Family Qualifies For
The biggest difference between these two benefits is income. The Minnesota K-12 Education Credit phases out as household income rises, while the subtraction is available to every family who homeschools, regardless of income.
Income Limits for the Credit
For tax year 2025, the credit begins to phase out at $77,550 of household income for families with one or two qualifying children. It is fully phased out at $83,550 for those families. For each additional child beyond the first two, the phase-out range increases by $3,000. A family with four kids, for example, has a higher income ceiling than a family with one.
Household income here is not the same as your federal adjusted gross income. Minnesota uses a specific calculation that can include items like nontaxable Social Security, so check the instructions on Schedule M1ED carefully or use tax software that handles Minnesota forms.
Who Benefits From the Subtraction
If your income is above the credit cutoff, the subtraction is still open to you. There is no income test. The MN homeschool tax credit alternative, as families often call it, is especially useful for dual-income households where one parent works full time and the other homeschools.
You cannot claim the same expense under both the credit and the subtraction. Schedule M1ED walks through the math and puts each dollar of spending into whichever bucket saves you the most. In practice, most lower-income families get more from the credit, while middle and higher earners fall back on the subtraction.
What Counts as a Qualifying Expense for Homeschool Families
The rules from the Minnesota Department of Revenue are clear on this point: homeschool families can count supplies and materials for subjects normally taught during the public school day. That opens the door to most of the things homeschool parents already buy.
Qualifying expenses include:
- Textbooks, workbooks, and curriculum for math, reading, language arts, science, social studies, and other standard subjects.
- Nonreligious instructional materials, including supplements, readers, and practice books.
- Paper, pens, pencils, notebooks, rulers, and other classroom supplies.
- Tutoring services provided by someone who is not the child's parent or sibling.
- Rental or purchase of educational equipment, such as musical instruments, calculators, and adaptive equipment for students with disabilities.
- Computer hardware and educational software used at home, as long as it is not used for business.
- Transportation and fees for required educational field trips.
Religious instruction materials do not qualify. Neither does tuition for a private religious school. Anything tied specifically to religious subjects is carved out of the benefit. Sports uniforms, after-school club dues, and supplies for elective extracurriculars are also excluded.
The rule of thumb: if the material teaches reading, writing, math, science, social studies, art, music, or another subject your child would learn during a normal school day in a Minnesota public school, and it is not primarily religious, it likely qualifies.
ArgoPrep Workbooks That Count as Qualifying Materials
Print workbooks are one of the cleanest categories of qualifying expense. They are nonreligious, they teach core public-school subjects, and they come with a receipt you can file away. ArgoPrep workbooks and bundles check every box the Minnesota Department of Revenue asks for, which is why so many Minnesota homeschool parents use them as the backbone of their curriculum.
Here are four bundles Minnesota families build full-year curriculum around:
- The 1st Grade Ultimate Bundle at $199.99 includes 10 workbooks covering math, ELA, science, and social studies. Receipts from a single bundle can cover most of a first grader's qualifying materials for the year.
- The 3rd Grade Ultimate Bundle at $199.99 gives you the full 10-workbook set for a grade where state testing topics start showing up, so your receipts document exactly the subjects Minnesota cares about.
- The 5th Grade Ultimate Bundle at $199.99 covers the upper-elementary jump into fractions, longer reading passages, and early U.S. history. Every workbook qualifies as a nonreligious instructional material.
- The 12 Months of the K-8 Math and ELA Program at $119.99 adds online video lectures, quizzes, and four digital workbooks to your homeschool toolkit. It is a qualifying educational software purchase used at home.
Every ArgoPrep print workbook includes video explanations for every question, which homeschool parents use as a built-in teacher when a child gets stuck. That alone tends to save hours of lesson prep. Browse the full catalog of grade-level ultimate bundles to match your child's current level.
When you buy directly from cwargoprep.com, the order confirmation and shipping receipt together give you the documentation the state asks for: date, item, and amount paid. Save them in a folder labeled by tax year and you are ready for April.
How to Track and Claim Your Minnesota Education Credit
Good recordkeeping turns this benefit from a nice idea into real money back. The Minnesota Department of Revenue can ask you to show receipts and documentation for any expense you claim, so treat receipts like a tax document from day one.
What to Save All Year
Keep the following for every homeschool purchase you plan to claim:
- Itemized receipts showing the date, the item, and the amount paid.
- Order confirmations from online retailers, printed or saved as PDFs.
- Invoices from tutors, including the tutor's name, the subject, and the hours worked.
- A brief note about which child the expense was for if you have more than one.
A simple spreadsheet with columns for date, child, category, vendor, and amount makes tax time a 20 minute job instead of a weekend. Update it once a week after online orders arrive and you will never have to dig through email in April.
Filing Your Minnesota Return
When you file your Minnesota income tax return, you complete Schedule M1ED to figure your credit and subtraction amounts. The form asks for total qualifying expenses per child, then runs the income test for the credit. Refundable credit amounts flow to Schedule M1REF and then back to your main Form M1. The subtraction flows directly to Form M1.
Most tax software that supports Minnesota (TurboTax, H&R Block, TaxSlayer, and free e-file options) handles Schedule M1ED automatically once you enter your expenses. If you file paper forms, the Minnesota Department of Revenue posts Schedule M1ED and its instructions on their website each tax season. You can also read their full guidance on the Minnesota K-12 Education Subtraction and Credit page, or check the qualifying homeschool expenses page if you have questions about a specific purchase.
For background on how the program is structured in state law, the Minnesota House of Representatives research staff publishes a plain-language overview in their K-12 Education Subtraction and Credit summary that is worth a read before your first filing.
A Simple Checklist for Minnesota Homeschool Families
Use this list to get organized before you buy this year's curriculum:
- Confirm your household income against the credit phase-out range to see if you qualify for the refundable credit or will rely on the subtraction.
- Make a list of subjects your children will study this year and the workbooks, tutors, and materials you will need for each.
- Set a curriculum budget that factors in the Minnesota education subtraction caps ($1,625 for K-6, $2,500 for 7-12 per child).
- Buy workbooks, supplies, and software from vendors who send clear, itemized receipts.
- Store receipts in a dedicated folder or spreadsheet labeled by child and tax year.
- Leave religious curriculum out of your qualifying totals, even if you use it at home.
- File Schedule M1ED with your Minnesota return in the spring and attach documentation if the state asks for it.
Picking ArgoPrep Workbooks for Your Minnesota Homeschool Year
The Minnesota school supplies credit and subtraction reward parents who treat homeschool curriculum as a real investment in their child's education. ArgoPrep bundles give you the paper receipts, the core subjects, and the video explanations you need for a full year of practice in math, ELA, science, and social studies. Start with the grade-level bundle that matches your child, or browse all ArgoPrep back-to-school bundles to plan curriculum for each kid in your home. Every dollar you spend on qualifying materials is a dollar you can put back on Schedule M1ED next tax season.
