Hello,

1. If I opt to not use American Opportunity Credit (AOC) but otherwise have undergrad student entered in Student Info and applicable expenses via 1098-T, will I lose one of the four years allowable to claim AOC? The first year student has only $229 out of pocket after scholarship at junior college in 2019 but I'm thinking the student will need four or more calendar years pursuing bachelor degree going forward 2020 onward and eventually at university where potential credits are larger due to higher tuition and maybe less in scholarships. So why not use Lifetime Learning (LLC) in 2019?

2. The parent here withdrew from 529 savings plan more than the $229 needed above so the gain of $479 on this distribution is taxable though without penalty. The no penalty is due to the AOC covering the $228 out of pocket. In ProSeries when I change my 'Education Costs Optimizer' page choice from automatic (chooses AOC) to manual (using LLC which is 20% of $229 at $46, $183 less), the entire $479 529 gain remains taxable without penalty. 

Shouldn't the taxable portion of the 529 gain reduce by $183 reduction in credit I'm opting for? I also set the manual choice to no credits and the same $479 gain remains taxable.

Which begs the question, am I losing one of four AOCs if I don't use it here AND does the 529 distribution gain remain taxable as if the AOC was applied even if I chose not to use it?

There are not a lot of $ here but I'm more curious regarding my interpretations being correct or not.

Thanks to anyone who read to this point!