How do I get to the screen in TT to enter my room and board expenses paid so I can get credit for those against funds I used form my 529

[bartzda67]

I have a 529 account for my daughter where I am the recipient and she is the beneficiary.  I do not qualify for any of the educational credits but need to enter the expenses (room and board) and tuition to show that I didn't over draw on 529 funds in 2025.

Last year 2024 when doing the 1098T forms, when you clicked the "yes" to the question did you pay for books and materials to attend school. it opened up an entire new section on the same screen that allowed me to enter the total room and board I paid so I could show tuition and room/board were more than what I took out of my 529 and I had no tax liability on my 529 withdrawals.

This year in 2025 TT, when I get to the screen that says "Time to enter <name> educational expenses", there is no way I see to get to another screen that allows me to enter Room and Board Expenses - just required books and material from the school" with a spot to enter an amount and a second question on optional material with a spot to enter an amount.    There is no way I see to enter Room and Board costs.  I've had to enter RB totals on the "required materials" amount, but that then is putting the expense on line 3 (books supplies... ) of the Student Info worksheet and not line 6 (room and board).  I do not see anywhere or any way to get to the screen that asks me about other expenses that qualify for 529 coverage.  

Need help to understand what I am missing here.....

I am using TT Premier 2025 Desktop edition

[shaug17]

I just encountered the exact same problem.  When I got to the part that it allowed us to enter the amount for books  - I simply clicked on the "forms" (so I was no longer in the step by step mode) - and it actually allowed me to enter the amount of room and board on the correct line (I believe it was line 6) - and then it gave me proper credit against the amount distributed from the 529 reported on the 1099-Q.  

[Hal_Al]

You can't enter those room and board expenses yet. This is a known glitch in TurboTax (TT). They are working on it (no announced fix date).   The 2025 education and 529 sections appear totally redesigned, from last year. 

[shaina04patel]

Hi,

I could not enter Room and Board expenses also (they are eligible expenses if paid through 529 account and I have done it in previous years). I think this is a bug in the software. Besides book expenses there are no fields to enter room and board expenses. If we do not enter we will pay taxes. I simply do not know how to convince TT to fix the problem. 

Here is the community question I posted and few people replied but no solution.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/college-education/discussion/re-where-can-i-enter-room-and-board-e... 

[bartzda67]

Thanks for the reply.  

I did the same thing but am concerned there might be other spots on other forms I need to enter the R&B amounts?  Also need to be careful that you don't enter any amount through the questions for books as this will then go wipe out the entry manually entered into the form.

[bartzda67]

This needs to get fixes ASAP.

I never took either ed credit for my kids but my daughter graduated last spring, is now no longer a dependent and is not eligible for the credit.  The inability to enter he expenses via the conversation is prohibiting me from entering this data into her forms and taking the credit.   TT needs to publish a date when they are going to fix this and soon.

[WanderingEarthMagnet]

There was a workaround posted in this thread, but it only works on TT Desktop.  After entering the 1099-Q in the step-by-step section, go to forms view and specifically pick the form on the left margin called "ESA/QTP Wks (<student name>)".  Go to part 2 of the form, and it will let you enter the expenses on the proper line.  For example, room and board goes on line 7.

Once you enter the expenses here, they should carry over to the other relevant worksheets and you should see your refund balance(s) adjust to reflect that the items are now untaxable.  You can go to the step-by-step mode, and everything looks exactly the same as it did. 

There should be a fix coming out Friday, 2/13/26 that lets you do this via the step-by-step.  Notwithstanding that, this direct-to-forms workaround should do the same exact thing that the upcoming bugfix will attempt to allow via the step-by-step screen.. 

[bartzda67]

Stared TT Desktop this morning and installed the latest set of updates.  Still not fixed :(.  Yes I get I can enter the forms manually but I should be able to do this via the conversational assistant.  This is why we pay $$ for the program.   People are going to pay unnecessary  taxes on fully qualified 1099Q deductions or miss out on AOC/LLC education credits.

[AnnetteB6]

The experience described here is expected to be resolved in a TurboTax update to be released by February 27th.  

@bartzda67 

[bartzda67]

Thank you for your reply - what is the confidence level on this getting released?  This was noted earlier in the thread that is would be available on 2/13.  I have 3 tax returns (all with refunds) waiting to get filed until this gets fixed.