Site kept telling me to include my 1098t and it tanked my refund. I didn't know I wasn't required to enter this info. I filed but didnt get a refund yet. Can it be fixed?

[alexmccartney102]

TurboTax essentially kept pushing and pushing me to enter the form, and I did and paid for the filing because of it, and it tanked my refund. I already filed but haven't received a return, but I now know that I didn't have to file it, and they advertise that they want to get us the best refund, which they didn't for me. I want to know if it can be fixed. When I try to amend and remove the doc myself, it then tells me I owe an insane amount of taxes to the government, which doesn't make sense.

[Bsch4477]

Was your scholarship amount greater than your qualified education expenses?

[Vanessa A]

Does someone else claim you as a dependent on their return?  Did you have a scholarship that was more than your education expenses?

If you are a dependent on someone else's return, you would not be eligible for an education credit.  You would only need to enter the 1098-T if your scholarship income was greater than your education expenses NOT including room and board.  If you had scholarship income in excess of your education expenses (tuition, books, fees) that income would be taxable.  Since they do not withhold income tax on scholarships, when it becomes taxable it just increases your income and your tax liability, but it does not increase the amount of taxes you had withheld.  

So, if you had a job and taxes withheld from your pay, but your pay was low enough that you got it all back, when you added to the income, it used the money withheld from your pay to help cover the taxes on the scholarship income.

You cannot remove the 1098-T if it was taxable income as you must report all taxable income if you file a return. 

[alexmccartney102]

I keep seeing this being mentioned, and I've tried to research this, but what does this even mean? My Yearly Tuition is 34,905 and my scholarships and grants are 16,112, and no, nobody claims me as a dependent. 

[Vanessa A]

If you are not a dependent and your yearly tuition is $34,905 and your scholarships and grants are $16,112, then if anything it should have increased your refund.  You should have been eligible for an education credit which is why TurboTax was telling you to enter your form. 

I would suggest going back and double checking your entries.  Usually when it doesn't make sense, it is a typo. How much other income did you have?  What did your refund start at and go to?  What does the amended amount show?

[alexmccartney102]

Thank you so much for your explanation, Ill go back and double check everything in a moment, but other income wise 13,500+, which is normal for me and ive always gotten a good refund with that. Initially when i put in the info my return was around 1400, when i told turbotax I was a full time student it took it down to around 40 dollars.

[Vanessa A]

That means it increased your income.  So most likely an issue with the numbers you entered or you did not enter your tuition and fees.  Be sure your 1098T matches exactly how it is on the form.

Also, since you did already file your return, you may end up with a letter from the IRS if they catch your mistake and they may adjust your refund to the correct amount, so do not amend your return until you actually receive your refund.  They received the 1098-T as well.  Sometimes they catch and correct, other times they do not. 

[alexmccartney102]

Thank you. I did go in the amendment earlier but i cancelled the amendment and havent done anything else.

[KrisD15]

To clarify

Did you get your original refund already? 

Please look at your 1040:

What is on

line 1

line 8

line 15

line 20

line 29

[alexmccartney102]

No, I have not gotten my original refund yet. Its been about 3 weeks and the IRS website says its still processing.

[DawnC]

Wait until the IRS processes your original return before you change anything.   As Vanessa said above, the IRS may correct the issue for you and if it shows 'still processing', they are looking at something, likely your 1098-T.   If they adjust it, they will notify you of the change and you won't need to take additional steps.    If they don't, once it is processed, go back and amend the return and fix whatever it is (probably a typo in the education expenses or scholarship data).    You can e-file an amended return for 2021 in TurboTax until October, so don't stress about it much right now; TurboTax will help you get if fixed - as you state - we want you getting the largest refund allowed by law!