1098-T: Scholarships/grants exceed tuition and expenses - Do I have to file a separate tax return to report this info?

[sv21]

Here are the details/some background info:

-I am currently 19 years old, a full-time undergraduate student at a University of California (UC school)

-My parents already filed their tax return and claimed me as a dependent, and they already entered in the 1098-T form as well

-I do not work and therefore have no income, besides the excess scholarship and financial aid money that counts as "taxable income", from what I've researched.  

-If I am calculating this correctly, the amount of excess scholarship/grant money I got was ~ $9,900 (I subtracted the amount of box 1 from box 5)

Do I still need to file a separate return on my own just to report the information from the 1098-T, considering I don't have any earned income from a job?  Would I be expecting to pay back some taxes for this?

[KrisD]

If your parents enter the 1098-T, you need to check with them about what you need to claim. 

Yes it's true that Box 5 less Box 1 is taxable income to the student, but there is more to it. 

Say Box 5 is 10,000 and Box 1 is 9,000. You claim 1,000, right? Well what if your parents took 4,000 of that tuition and used it for an education credit? Now you only have 5,000 expenses left, so you need to claim 5,000 as taxable scholarship.

If your parents used TurboTax, there would be a print-out explaining what you, the student, needs to claim. 

If you are under the filing requirement with claiming the taxable income, you do not need to file. Although it is not earned income, it is NOT considered as "unearned income". 

"You must file a return if any of the following apply. 1. Your unearned income was more than $1,050. 2. Your earned income was more than $12,000. 3. Your gross income was more than the larger of— a. $1,050, or b. Your earned income (up to $11,650) plus $350."