1098T questions

[TMgoodwin]

My daughter got a 1098T that shows box 1 as $2486 and box 5 as 4986. When I enter these figures into my return it says she needs to file her own return as the scholarship amount is more than the tuition. The question is that the scholarship award from the college says it is for 2023 and 2024. The extra amount was used for her tuition to start this year. How am I supposed to report this? The school holds this money so she never actually got the extra amount. Did not get a 1098Q. Will she be required to file a return for this amount? This would be her first. Just making sure I am not overlooking something. Thanks!!

[ThomasM125]

You should prepare a return for your daughter in TurboTax to see if she has any income tax. Enter the Form 1098-T in the Education section like you did on your return. There will be a page where you can indicate some of the scholarship income is not applicable to 2023:

If there is no tax due you can use this worksheet provided by the IRS to see if she needs to file a tax return: Do I need to file a return 

[Hal_Al]

If that is her only income, she does not need to file a tax return. 

Scholarships are a hybrid between earned and unearned income. It is earned income for purposes of the $13,850 filing requirement and the dependent standard deduction calculation (earned income + $400).  It is not earned income for the kiddie tax and other purposes (e.g. EIC).  For grad students and post grad fellows, scholarship, stipend and fellowship income is earned income ("compensation") for IRA contributions.

There is a tax “loop hole” available to claim an education credit, for the parents of students on scholarship. The student reports all his scholarship, up to the amount needed to claim the American Opportunity Credit (AOC), as income on his return. That way, the parents  (or himself, if he is not a dependent) can claim the tuition credit on their return. They can do this because that much tuition was no longer paid by "tax free" scholarship.  You cannot do this if the school’s billing statement specifically shows the scholarships being applied to tuition or if the conditions of the grant are that it be used to pay for qualified expenses.

Using your numbers: Student has $4986 in box 5 of the 1098-T and $2486in box 1. At first glance he/she has $2500 of taxable income and nobody can claim the American opportunity credit. But if she reports $4986 as income on her return, the parents can claim $2486 of qualified expenses on their return.

Books and computers are also qualifying expenses for the AOC. So, extending the example, the student had another $1000 in expenses for those course materials, paid out of pocket. The parents could claim $3486 of qualified expenses. 

The IRS actually encourages use of this technique. From the form 1040 instructions: “You may be able to increase an education credit if the student chooses to include all or part of a Pell grant or certain other scholarships or fellowships in income. For more information, see Pub. 970, the instructions for Form 1040 and IRS.gov/EdCredit".  PUB 970 even has examples of how to do the “loop hole”.