School Scholarship Tax Credit Program for Indiana Taxpayers

School Scholarship Tax Credit Program for Indiana Taxpayers

By Trent Wolfe

Have you ever thought about creating a scholarship for low to middle income students to attend non-public schools? Now might be the best time to start a scholarship for a local private school. Indiana has a tax credit available to individuals and corporations for contributions to a scholarship granting organization (SGO). The Indiana tax credit is 50% of your contribution.  The only limitation is Indiana will issue $14 million dollars in credits from July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2019.  You can check the total credits claimed during the period by clicking here.  Any unused SGO credit claimed by the taxpayer in the current year can be carried forward for 9 years, but is never refundable.  You will also want to plan your other nonrefundable credits accordingly, i.e. Indiana college contribution credit, Indiana 529 Plan credit. If you have Indiana tax withheld from your sources of income, the withholding would be refunded on your Indiana tax return if you decide to make a contribution to an SGO.

Another great advantage of the SGO tax credit is you are allowed to take it in multiple years. A taxpayer can make a contribution in 2018 and as long as there are credits remaining for the SGO tax credit, another contribution could be made in early 2019. You will want to make a decision on your first contribution soon as the contribution needs to be received by the SGO before December 31, 2018, to be eligible as a tax credit on your 2018 Indiana tax return.

If you would like to set-up a scholarship for a non-public school, you will want to contact a scholarship granting organization. Listed below are the approved SGO’s for Indiana. If you have questions about the functions of the program, you will want to contact a member from the organization of your choice. If you have a question on the tax credit, please contact our office and we can assist you with your questions.

 

School Scholarship Tax Credit Program

Approved Scholarship Granting Organizations as of 9/22/17

 

Elkhart County Community Foundation

P O Box 2932

Elkhart, IN  46515

Amanda Jamison, Program Officer

(574)295-8761

mailto:amanda@InspiringGood.org

Date of Apprval:  February 2, 2015

 

Institute for Quality Education, Inc. (formerly Educational Choice Charitable Trust)

101 West Ohio St., Suite 700

Indianapolis, IN  46204

Mary Eaker, Program Director

(317)951-8781

mailto:maryeaker@h4ged.org

Date of Approval: January 13, 2010

 

School Scholarship Granting Organization of Northeast Indiana, Inc.

915 South Clinton Street

Fort Wayne, IN 46802

Marsha Jordan, Superintendent

(260)442-4611 Ext. 3316

mjordan@diocesefwsb.org

Date of Approval: March 5, 2010

 

Sagamore Institute Scholarships for Education Choice

2902 North Meridian Street

Indianapolis, IN 46208

Laurel Christensen, Senior Fellow and Director

(317)472-2050

laurelc@sagamoreinstitute.org

Date of Approval: March 4, 2011

 

The Lutheran Scholarship Granting Organization of Indiana, Inc.

1145 Barr Street

Fort Wayne, IN 46802

Jon Dize, SGO Administrator

(260)203-4509

info@lutheransgo.org

Date of Approval: October 30, 2012

 

LaGrange County Community Foundation, Inc.

109 E. Central, Suite #3

LaGrange, IN  46761

Jennifer Tuttle, Executive Director

(260)463-4363

mailto:jtuttle@lccf.net

Date of Approval:   August 26, 2016

 

Professional Athletes of Indiana

6678 Guion Road

Indianapolis, IN  46268

Jermaine Chaney, President

(317)339-9087

mailto: jchaney@chaneyfinancialgroup.com

Date of Approval: September 22, 2017