Education expenses

[lmcle5361]

I received a 1098T from a qualifying university.  I also received tax free support from my employer.  Where do I enter that tax free support to reduce the to cost.

[Carl]

Assuming the employer provided tax free support was not included in box 1 of your W-2, simply enter it as a scholarship. But only enter it as a scholarship if it was ***NOT*** included in box 5 of your 1098-T.

[lmcle5361]

Would I enter that on the input form for the 1098T that was received from the institution?

[Hal_Al]

The 1098-T is only an informational document. The numbers on it are not required to be entered onto your tax return. However receipt of a 1098-T frequently means you are either eligible for a tuition credit or deduction or possibly your student has taxable scholarship income. 

If you claim the tuition credit, you do need to report that you got one or that you qualify for an exception (the TurboTax interview will handle this).

After entering the 1098-T, the education interview will ask, a few screens in,  if you got employer assistance. After you enter the amount, TurboTax (TT) will adjust the qualifying expenses, for the tuition credit.  

Rather than going thru the whole education interview, as others have suggested, you can just adjust the box 5 amount at the the 1098-T screen, for the employer assistance. 

By law your employer can only give you $5250 maximum, tax free.  If you got more than $5250, the amount above $5250 is usually already included in box 1 of  your w-2 and you do not need to enter anything additional on your tax return.  Since you have essentially paid tax on that part, it  is considered your after tax money and that amount can be used  to claim the tuition credit.  That is, you should not enter more than $5250, at the employer assistance box in TT (or adjust the box 5 amount by more than $5250)