Student Loan & Education Tax Topics

Education

Education: Deductions, Credits, and Answers

There’s no doubt about it, education tax benefits can make a huge difference in your refund. The American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC) typically offers the largest tax break. But if you don’t qualify for that, there’s always the Lifetime Learning Cr... read more

529 rollover to Roth and California taxes

I'd like to roll unused 529 funds to my son's Roth IRA. The plan is in California, but my son lives and pays taxes in NY. Will the fact that California considers this a non qualified distribution subject to taxes apply?

where do you enter room and board expenses for a college student to help offset the tax on 529 distribution?

How to answer Scholoarship questions (or complete worksheet) correctly (2024 & 2025)

How do you answer "How much of $XXXX you received in scholoarships, fellowships, and grants was used to pay for this expense?" for dependant student where parents cannot claim Lifetime Learning Credit because of AGI? The recommendation seems to be to... read more

Turbo tax says my child owes taxes based on 1099-Q from a 529 distributions. But all funds were used for qualified expenses. What am I doing wrong?

I've put all the information from form 1099-Q (payment from qualified education programs) into turbo tax and followed every prompt. I've double checked each question set. Nowhere does it give me an option to state that the funds reported on 1099-Q we... read more

Confused 1098T

Hello, I just received my daughters 1098T (the college had a glitch). I wasn't expecting for box 5 to be larger then box 1 so now I'm wondering if we are going to have to pay taxes on part of her scholarships. Box 1 is $19350.00. Box 5 is $21203. $20... read more

Please, help with 1098-T

T-1098 box 1 shows $7110, box 5 - $5303 for scholarships received. But only $3100 went towards tuition and fees. The rest $4000 were covering housing - $2200 of it was covered by scholarship and the rest $1800 was out of pocket. So when TT asks what ... read more

Room and Board Expenses Not Able to be Applied Against 529 Disbursements Reported on 1099Qs

After being a long-time patron, here's why I will no longer be using TurboTax software: 1. the 2025 tax software does not have any place where one can put expenses for room and board to offset 529 distributions (as reported on the 1099Q form).2. I co... read more

Turbotax Premier College Expense Entry

I am using the desktop product for the 2025 tax year and I have entered the 1099Q and 1098T information, however I am not getting a screen to enter my other college expenses. It keeps taking me to the education credit and showing I owe taxes and pena... read more

Why doesn't turbotax allow me to enter qualified education expenses like room & board? is their a problem with the software?

It allows books and supplies to be entered if charged by the institution, and indicates other expenses can be entered later, but it never then prompts for other expenses before moving out of the 1098-T and 1099-Q sections in the online version.

144

Should I need to upgrade to a paid TurboTax filing plan because I have student loan interest, or is this covered in simple filing?

When I had entered all of my information, I was told I, “need to upgrade to Deluxe,” because I have student loan interest. I thought this was covered in the free version of TurboTax, and it is listed under free features when I click for more details.... read more

Turbo Tax is not allowing me to input qualified education expenses from my 529 plan withdrawals.

Background. I have had 529 plans for my daughters for 25 years and have used Turbo Tax for about 30. The last 10 years I have entered qualified education expenses from 529 withdrawals into Turbo Tax with no big issues. This year, I input the 1099-Q i... read more

AOC informational worksheet

I spoke with an expert today regarding this issue and was instructed to delete all forms related to the education credit to reset the system. I followed those steps, but the problem persists, and it appears there may be a software glitch.On the entry... read more

distributions from 529 in December for Spring semester

We wired the payment for the Spring semester from our Smart529 in December 2025. As the result of it 1099Q showed 15000 gross distribution. 1098T showed box 1 - Box 5 expenses 10000 as if there was no charge for Spring semester in December 2025! All ... read more