I am 28 years old, I have a part-time job, and I will file as an independent (including student loans, I will still be covering +50% of my expenses this year). However, my grandmother would like to help out with my graduate school expenses by paying for the tuition. She is going to make the payment directly to the school so that the transaction is in her name and from her account. I imagine that the 1098-T form will still be sent to me in my name. Can she receive credit for this? I seem to only find information about parents claiming this credit since the student is their dependent. However, since I am independent, and my grandmother is merely offering this as a gift of sorts, how would we go about ensuring that she receiving the tax credit? Can she simply claim it on her taxes and I continue to file taxes independently as I normally would while, of course, leaving the 1098-T out of my files?
No, she cannot claim any education expenses she paid for you on her tax return since you are not a dependent on her tax return.