I went to a community college in the Spring and an university in the fall do I have to enter both 1098-t forms or I can enter the one that has the greater amount?

[AnthonyC · Accepted solution]

Provided that all of the expenses were paid in 2017, you should enter both as the amount of the education credit you can receive is tied to the total amount of expenses paid.  

You should enter them one at a time, however.  Do not try to add them together.  After you finish entering one Form 1098-T, the program will ask you if you have another one to enter.  You will get to a screen entitled "Did you go to another school in 2016?"  Enter your second one then.

[Edited 1.14.18 to add screenshot to assist with a follow up comment]

[cb11]

What if the Pell Grant and Scholarship is more then the tuition?

[AnthonyC]

Ok, this changes the situation a bit as you likely won't be receiving an education credit depending on how much overage there was and how the money was used.  But, you will still need to report both 1098s as you may actually have scholarship income.  If the amount of your scholarships and pell grants exceed your qualified education expenses (tuition plus required books and fees), then any overage is considered income to you (i.e any amounts you used for personal expenses such as room and board or travel).  

You should enter both 1098 forms and be sure to included any required book costs and fees and the program will do the calculation to see if you have any scholarship income.  You will see a "SCH $$$" next to Line 7 on your tax return if you do.  Below are two useful articles for Pell Grant and Scholarship and how they relate to taxes.

<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/college-and-education/do-you-have-to-claim-pell-grant-money-on-...>

<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/college-and-education/taxes-for-grads-do-scholarships-count-as-...>

[cb11]

I used some of the my scholarship on books. How do I enter that.

[AnthonyC]

You will enter both your Form 1098-T's first and after you have entered the information from those forms you will keep going through the program and there will be a couple of questions and then you will get to a screen entitled "Now Lets Gather Additional Educational Expenses."  The next screen will have space for you to enter your book expenses.  I will add a screenshot of that screen to the question above because I can't add it to the comment section.

[cb11]

I don’t have my 1098-T form yet. I’m just calculating things up on paper. I have received the 1098-t from University I attended. The community college is very slow at sending documents in the mail. Can I file the one I have then file the other one at another time? If I amend my tax return after it’s been approved and add my Community College 1098-T would they tell me if I owe anything?

[fanfare]

Very bad idea.

[cb11]

I’m just calculating on paper. I’m not entering anything until my 1098-T came in the mail.

[AnthonyC]

The IRS is not actually accepting and processing returns until Jan 29th (you can file your return now but they are not going to be processed until then), so there isn't much reason to rush things.  If you file without one of your 1098-Ts, you will need to file an amendment to add the other one and that process can be tricky and very time consuming, so its always best to avoid it.