PHOENIX — On Tuesday, Arizona Treasurer Kimberly Yee, recognized Lewis Cleveland a student at Rice Intermediate School in Gila County, Florence Westerfield, a homeschool student in Graham County, Payge Blakely, a student at Blue School in Greenlee county, along with 17 other fifth and sixth grade AZ529 Essay Writing Contest Winners, including at least one fifth or sixth grader from every Arizona county and variety of Arizona schools.
Lewis wrote he wants to be woodworker, Florence shared her dream to go into marketing and Advertising and Payge wants a career in horse reigning.
The Arizona State Treasurer’s Office and the AZ529 Advisory Committee invited fifth and sixth graders across Arizona to share their dream jobs and how they planned to achieve it by writing a three-paragraph essay.
Twenty winners were selected from 627 essay entries from students across the state. The winning students represent different schools among district, charter, private, Bureau of Indian Education and homeschool programs and represent every Arizona county.
The winners will receive $529 towards an AZ529 Education Savings Plan. The amount $529 was selected to pay homage to Section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code, which created the AZ529 plan.
The AZ529 Education Savings Plan offers a tax-free approach to setting money aside for college, community college, vocational training, trade school and other educational avenues for high school graduates. Arizona residents can receive a dollar-for-dollar state tax deduction for contributions made to an AZ529 account each year, of up to $2,000 per beneficiary or $4,000 per beneficiary depending on filing status.
Funds earned over time will remain tax-free when used for a wide variety of covered educational expenses.
Beginning this year, 529 plan beneficiaries can now rollover unused funds into a Roth IRA for retirement, free of income tax or tax penalties. Additionally, friends and family members may add to a child’s AZ529 Plan at any time and earn the same tax benefits for themselves.
