529 allowance for eating in restaurant

[pvdbroek]

My son goes to college at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands, where we currently reside. He lives with us. I have two questions about the 529 food allowance:

1. Occasionally he eats out with friends. Is that expense allowable for reimbursement through the 529 (of course, assuming that the total monthly food expense is below the COA)?

2. Unlike colleges in the USA, there are no meal plans or official COA listings for the Vrije Universiteit. They DO provide an estimate of what monthly costs an attending student may expect on meals (as part of a list of various costs, that also include tuition, housing, textbooks, etc.). Is it wise to use this estimate in the same way as the COA for a college in the USA?

thanks

Paul  

[Hal_Al · Accepted solution]

Q. Is it wise to use this estimate in the same way as the COA for a college in the USA?

A. Yes. 

I don't think you'll find an definitive IRS answer to your question. But, I'm of the opinion that your method is a reasonable approximation to the Cost of Attendance (COA) rule for the cap on 529 distributions for room & board. 

[pvdbroek]

thank you! And do you have an insight on the other question ("Occasionally he eats out with friends. Is that expense allowable for reimbursement through the 529 (of course, assuming that the total monthly food expense is below the COA)?")?

[Hal_Al]

Q.  Is the expense, when eating out with friends,  allowable for reimbursement through the 529?

A. Yes, assuming that the total  food expense is below the COA for the academic period (e.g. semester).