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Scott K1
New Member

I don't see in TurboTax where to put the money we paid for my son's college tuition and room and board.

I don't see in TurboTax where to put the money we paid for his college tuition and room and board.  I have the school information entered, it asks if we got a 1098-T, I hit no, and then it asks us to enter the information from the 1098-T?  When I try to edit the tuition information, it just brings me back to the 1098-T form.  I need to manually enter the tuition and Room & Board somehow; but it isn't clear how.

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5 Replies
KrisD15
Expert Alumni

I don't see in TurboTax where to put the money we paid for my son's college tuition and room and board.

Why do you need to enter the payments you made to the student's education expenses? 

Is the student your dependent? Are you claiming the student on your tax return?

Why do you not have a 1098-T?

Did you make a distribution from a 529 or other saving instrument and if yes, did you get Form 1099-Q showing that distribution? (are you listed as the recipient or is the student?)

 

If the student is not your dependent, only the student (or the Taxpayer that claims the student) can use the expenses paid towards a credit, no matter who made the payments. 

 

Pub 970

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Hal_Al
Level 15

I don't see in TurboTax where to put the money we paid for my son's college tuition and room and board.

You don't enter the money you paid.  What you enter is the expenses incurred. 

 

After answering no to having a 1098-T, answer yes to qualifying for an exception (that gets you to the entry screens). 

Room & board is only a qualified expense for a 529/ESA/Q TP plan distribution. Therefore, TurboTax (TT) will not give you a place to enter R&B unless you earlier told it that you took a distribution from a 529/ESA/QTP (in the 1099-Q section)..

 

To get the screen to enter Room & Board, answer yes when asked if you have book expenses, in the 1098-T section.

 

 

Scott K1
New Member

I don't see in TurboTax where to put the money we paid for my son's college tuition and room and board.

I don’t see a question about if I qualify for and exception.  

Hal_Al
Level 15

I don't see in TurboTax where to put the money we paid for my son's college tuition and room and board.

Delete the student and start over. Go through the entire education interview until you reach a screen titled "Your Education Expenses Summary".  Click delete next to the student's name.  You'll then get the "Your Education Expenses Summary" screen again.  Click the "Add a student" button and re-enter everything. 

ThomasM125
Expert Alumni

I don't see in TurboTax where to put the money we paid for my son's college tuition and room and board.

You can't qualify for an education credit if you don't have a Form 1098-T. So, you don't need to enter the education expenses if that is all you are trying to do. If you need to enter the room and board to exempt earnings on distributions from an education savings account, one option is to enter the Form 1098-T information and exclude the federal ID number of the school. You will then be able to proceed and enter the room and board expenses.

 

 

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