Q. Does my daughter need to file a tax return if she is on an athletic scholarship?
A. Simple answer: no. But, when we get to the bottom line: yes (probably).
It depends on the amounts. Her athletic scholarship is partially taxable. But, the amount is not enough to file, if that is her only income.
Scholarships that pay for qualified educational expenses (QEE - tuition, fees, books and other course materials) is tax free. Scholarship amounts that exceed QEE is taxable income, on the student’s tax return. Room & board are not QEE.
If box 5 of the 1098-T exceeds box 1, TurboTax (TT) will treat the difference as taxable income, unless you enter additional QEE at books and other expenses. So, on the surface, she has $12,000 of taxable income ($27K - 15K = $12K). But, the filing threshold is $14,600. So, she doesn't have to file (assuming she has no other income).
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 conditions of the grant are that it be used to pay for qualified expenses.
Using an example: Student has $27,000 in box 5 of the 1098-T and $15,000 in box 1. At first glance he/she has $12,000 of taxable income and nobody can claim the American opportunity credit. But if she reports $16,000 as income on her return, the parents can claim $4000 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. She would only need to report $15000 of taxable scholarship income, instead of $16000.
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”.
Scholarships are a hybrid between earned and unearned income. It is earned income for purposes of the $14,600 filing requirement (2024) and the dependent standard deduction calculation (earned income + $450). 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.
Taxable scholarship goes on line 8r of Schedule 1, from which TurboTax treats it as hybrid income.
