What is the FSTC? Federal Scholarship Tax Credit, ECCA, §25F — same program, different names

TL;DR

• ECCA, FSTC, §25F, the OBBBA scholarship credit, and the Education Freedom Tax Credit all refer to the same program: the new federal individual income-tax credit for K–12 scholarship donations.
• The IRS officially calls it FSTC (Federal Scholarship Tax Credit) and uses that term on the program’s landing page.
• Congress called it ECCA (Educational Choice for Children Act) when it passed.
• Tax professionals call it §25F after the section of the Internal Revenue Code where it lives.
• The same federal $1,700 credit, the same January 1, 2027 start date, the same rules — just different ways of referring to it.

All the names, side by side

Why so many names?

Federal tax programs almost always end up with multiple names because different stakeholders — Congress, the IRS, tax professionals, media, and advocacy groups — each refer to them in the way that makes sense to their audience. The Earned Income Tax Credit is also called the EITC and the Earned Income Credit. The Child Tax Credit is the CTC. The §25F credit is no different.

Three layers create the names:

• The bill name is what Congress called the legislation. For this program, that’s the Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA).
• The statute is where the law lives in the U.S. Code after enactment. ECCA was added to the Internal Revenue Code as Section 25F — written as §25F or 26 U.S.C. §25F.
• The IRS program name is what the agency uses in public-facing guidance, forms, and instructions. The IRS calls it the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit (FSTC).

What the IRS calls it: FSTC

On the IRS website, the program landing page is titled “Federal Scholarship Tax Credit (FSTC).” When the IRS publishes future forms, schedules, and donor instructions, expect them to use FSTC as the program name. The IRS issued Notice 2025-70 in late 2025 requesting public comment on §25F implementation; that notice and forthcoming proposed regulations are the most authoritative source on how the credit will operate.

What Congress called it: ECCA

Congress passed the credit as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA, Public Law 119-21), signed into law on July 4, 2025. Within OBBBA, the scholarship-credit provision lives at Section 70411. The bill text and accompanying legislative materials refer to the program as the Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA), building on years of standalone ECCA bills introduced in earlier Congresses (most recently as H.R. 833 in the 119th Congress).

Advocacy organizations and education-policy publications generally continue to call the program ECCA, since that’s the name with political and historical recognition.

What tax professionals call it: §25F

CPAs, tax attorneys, and CPE-style technical analyses overwhelmingly refer to the program by its tax-code section: §25F (or “Section 25F”). When you read a technical analysis from a firm like Brownstein, Bonadio, CLA, or Roth&Co, expect §25F language throughout. This is the most precise way to refer to the credit when you need to point to specific statutory provisions (the donor cap, the carryforward rule, SGO requirements, etc.).

What you should call it

It depends on your audience:

• Talking to other donors or families: “The ECCA federal scholarship tax credit” works well — combines the recognized acronym with a description of what it is.
• Searching the IRS website or filing taxes: Use FSTC — that’s the IRS’s term and will match official guidance.
• Talking to your CPA: Use §25F or “the Section 25F credit” — that’s the technical language they work in.
• Reading legislative news or budget analyses: Look for OBBBA Section 70411 or P.L. 119-21 §70411.

For more on how the credit works in practice, see our full ECCA / FSTC explainer or the donor’s guide to the $1,700 credit.

Frequently asked questions