US federal income tax · 2026 tax year
Yes, when a business pays. If your company enrolls its managers in a GoalMakers program to make them better at the jobs they hold, US tax law treats the fee like any other job training: a business expense the company deducts. The employee who takes the program owes no tax on it.
The answer is different when an individual pays out of pocket. Here is how each case works under federal rules for the 2026 tax year.
Who pays
Federal tax treatment
The company deducts the fee as a business expense. The employee owes no tax on it when the program relates to their current job.
What to do
Pay GoalMakers directly, or reimburse the employee against a receipt.
Who pays
Federal tax treatment
Deductible as a business expense when the program maintains or improves skills used in the business they already run.
What to do
Pay from the business and keep the receipt.
Who pays
Federal tax treatment
No federal deduction, with a few narrow exceptions. Federal law suspended the deduction for unreimbursed job expenses in 2018, and a 2025 law made that permanent.
What to do
Ask your employer to pay or reimburse the fee.
Who pays
Federal tax treatment
Tax-exempt organizations generally pay no federal income tax on mission-related income, so the deduction rarely matters. Staff owe no tax on job-related training the organization pays for.
What to do
Pay or reimburse it like any other staff training.
A deduction lowers the income your business is taxed on. The saving is the fee multiplied by your tax rate.
Take the Master Manager Program at $995 per learner. A C corporation, taxed at the flat 21% federal rate, saves about $209 in federal tax on each seat. That brings the after-tax cost to about $786.
In a sole proprietorship, partnership or S corporation, the deduction reduces the income the owners report, so the saving depends on each owner's own rate.
A deduction works differently from a tax credit, which comes straight off the tax bill. Program fees don't qualify for the education credits. The Q&A below explains why.
GOALMAKERS
Deduction example
Illustration for a C corporation at the 21% federal rate, rounded to the nearest dollar. Pass-through owners save at their own rate.
Step 1 · The general rule
A company deducts employee training under the general rule for business expenses. The cost has to be ordinary and necessary, which the IRS defines as common and accepted in your field and helpful and appropriate for your business. Management training for managers meets that standard.
Step 2 · Work-related education
A second test decides two things: whether employer-paid training is tax-free to the employee, and whether self-employed people can deduct their own fees.
Where GoalMakers programs land
GoalMakers programs are built for people who already manage a team, a function or a company. They teach that work: setting goals, coaching the right people, running a system of managing, reading and applying the financials. They award a certificate of completion, with no degree or license attached, and they don't qualify anyone for a new profession. For a learner who already does this kind of work, that places a program on the "maintains or improves skills" side of the test.
The test applies to each person's own facts. Someone taking a program to move into a different line of work should expect a different answer.
Your accountant will want to see what was bought, who it was for and how it relates to the job. With every enrollment you get:
A receipt or invoice showing the program, the learner or company, the amount and the date
The curriculum, published at goalmakers.com/curriculum, to attach to an expense report
A certificate of completion for each learner who finishes
If your accounts payable team needs a Form W-9 to set us up as a vendor, email team@goalmakers.com.
Yes. Training employees for the work they do is an ordinary and necessary business expense, deductible like your other staff training. That holds for one manager or a full cohort, and whether you pay us directly or reimburse the employee.
No, when the program relates to their current job. The IRS calls this a working condition benefit: training that would qualify as a business expense of the employee's job. The rule still applies even though employees can no longer deduct such expenses on their own returns. It stays out of their wages and off their W-2. There is no dollar cap, and no written plan is required.
It matters for the employee's taxes and rarely for your deduction. Job-related training is tax-free to the employee with no cap. Training unrelated to the current job is tax-free only through a Section 127 educational assistance program, covered in the next question. Outside both, the fee counts as taxable wages for the employee, and your company deducts it as compensation.
Yes, if your plan's own terms cover non-degree training. The tax law allows it: a Section 127 educational assistance program can cover tuition and fees up to $5,250 per employee per year, tax-free to the employee, and the course doesn't have to be job-related or part of a degree. The program has to be a separate written plan. The limit is $5,250 for 2026 and rises with inflation after that. Fees above the limit can still be tax-free when the training is job-related. The plan can't favor highly compensated employees, and no more than 5% of the benefits paid in a year can go to people who own more than 5% of the company, their spouses and their dependents.
Either works. Paying directly is simplest: one invoice in the company's name. If you reimburse, do it under an expense policy that covers business expenses only, requires a receipt within a reasonable time and requires the return of anything paid over the actual cost. The IRS calls that an accountable plan, and reimbursements for job-related training made under one stay out of the employee's wages.
Book it where you book other employee training or professional development. The tax treatment follows what was bought, whatever the account is called. Our invoice names the program so your accounting team can code it.
No. A private cohort for your managers is staff training, deductible on the same terms as individual seats.
Yes, when the program maintains or improves skills you use in the business you already run. Managing people, setting goals and reading your financials are those skills for most owners. The fee is a business expense.
On Schedule C with your other business expenses, or Schedule F if you farm. It lowers your net profit, the figure your income tax and your self-employment tax are both based on.
Through the company. When the business pays the fee, or reimburses you against a receipt, the business takes the deduction. If you work for your own corporation and pay personally without reimbursement, you're treated like any other employee paying out of pocket, and there is no federal deduction. A partner can deduct a partnership expense paid personally only if the partnership agreement requires the partner to cover it, so partners should check with their accountant before paying personally. An LLC follows the rules for how it is taxed: as a sole proprietorship, a partnership or a corporation.
Probably not. The test covers skills for work you already do, and education that qualifies you for a new trade or business falls outside it. Costs from before a business opens come under separate start-up cost rules. Ask your advisor how your situation is treated.
On a federal return, no. Employees used to deduct unreimbursed job expenses, work-related education included. Federal law suspended that deduction starting in 2018, and a 2025 law made the change permanent.
A few narrow ones. The IRS still allows the deduction for Armed Forces reservists, qualified performing artists, fee-basis state or local government officials, and people with disabilities who have impairment-related education expenses. Eligible educators have a separate, limited deduction. Self-employed people deduct work-related education as a business expense.
Ask your employer to pay for the program or reimburse you. When your employer covers job-related training, the company deducts the cost and you owe no tax on it. Send your manager the curriculum at goalmakers.com/curriculum, the price and a link to this page.
No, when the program relates to your current job and you turn in your receipt under your employer's expense policy. The reimbursement stays out of your wages and off your W-2. That works even if you have already paid, as long as you turn in the receipt promptly. The IRS treats 60 days as a reasonable time.
No. The part you pay yourself is an unreimbursed employee expense, and the federal deduction for those is gone.
No. The Lifetime Learning Credit does cover courses that build job skills, but only at an eligible educational institution: a college, university or trade school that can take part in federal student aid programs. Those schools issue Form 1098-T. GoalMakers is a private training company, outside that category, so our fees don't qualify for the credit and we don't issue a 1098-T.
A few states kept their own deduction for unreimbursed employee expenses after the federal one ended. The rules differ from state to state, so check your state's instructions or ask a preparer.
Only if the program maintains or improves skills you use in that business. Training for the team you lead at your day job stays an employee expense, even if you also have a business on the side.
The employee side does. When your organization pays for job-related training, your staff owe no tax on it, under the same working condition rules that apply at a for-profit company. The deduction matters less to you, since tax-exempt organizations generally pay no federal income tax on mission-related income.
Send them this page. The short version: when a member company pays for an employee's seat in a program related to that employee's job, the company deducts it as training and the employee owes no tax on it. A member who owns their business can generally deduct their own seat when the program builds skills they use in that business. An employee who pays personally gets no federal deduction and should ask their employer to cover it.
Keep the receipt or invoice, proof of payment, the curriculum and your certificate of completion. Add a line on how the program relates to your current job or business. The IRS's general guidance is to keep records for at least three years after you file the return they support, and payroll tax records for at least four.
A cash-method business generally deducts the fee in the year it pays, provided the program runs 12 months or less and ends by the close of the following tax year. Every GoalMakers program runs under 12 months. A business that has been spreading prepaid expenses over the months they cover needs IRS approval before changing that practice. An accrual-method business generally deducts the fee as the program is delivered. Check with your accountant before a year-end payment.
No. Your receipt or invoice and proof of payment are the documentation. A business that needs our taxpayer information for its vendor file can ask for a Form W-9. Form 1098-T doesn't apply to our programs.
It can help. Education your employer or the law requires for you to keep your present salary, status or job is the second way to meet the IRS test. CE hours you need to keep a license or certification your current work requires generally fit that description. CE credit is available on some partner programs.
No. The tax treatment follows who pays and how the program relates to the learner's work. Enrolling through an association changes neither.
No. The rules look at what the education is for. Live online sessions and self-paced work are treated like a classroom course.
This page covers US federal income tax only. Canada and other countries have their own rules for training costs, so ask an accountant where you file.
This page is general information about US federal income tax for the 2026 tax year. GoalMakers does not give tax or legal advice. Results depend on your facts, and state rules vary, so talk to your accountant or tax advisor before relying on it.
Last reviewed October 6, 2026.
