If 1098 T showed more in scholarships than amounts billed for tuition and related expenses but the money is not given to student do they have to claim it as income?

[sly5bevo]

Scholarship money goes directly to University not student.

[SeanE1]

Unfortunately, the IRS views the excess of scholarship/grant amount over qualified tuition billed amount as taxable income to be included on Line 7 of an individual's tax return.  I have included a few LINKs below that will further explain this issue if you are interested.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/2748619-how-do-i-handle-a-1098-t-where-box-5-is-greater-than-box-2...

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p970/ch01.html