If I pay my Spring 2019 tuition in December 2018, can I include it in my 2018 education credit? Will it automatically be included in my 2018 1098?

[kathy_quinn]

What if my University did not add my Spring 2019 tuition to my 1098? Can I still include it in my tax return?

[rjs]

@kathy_quinn  If you paid your spring 2019 tuition in 2018, and it is not included in box 1 of your 2018 Form 1098-T, then the 1098-T is wrong. You should ask the university for a corrected 1098-T. (Note that box 7 on the 1098-T should be checked to indicate that "box 1 includes amounts for an academic period beginning January - March 2019.") If you include in your tax return an amount higher than what is on your 1098-T, you are pretty much guaranteed to get a notice from the IRS saying that your tax return is wrong. However, also see my comment below about the maximum amounts for the education credits.

Unfortunately, colleges and universities in general do not have a very good record for issuing accurate 1098-T forms.

[rjs]

Yes, on your 2018 tax return you can claim a credit for tuition that you paid in 2018 for classes that start within the first three months of 2019. The payment will be included in your 1098-T, if the school fills out the 1098-T correctly. The 1098-T is supposed to include all the payments they received in 2018, including payments for the spring 2019 semester. I wouldn't say that it will be included "automatically." It depends on the school doing it right.

[rjs]

There are a couple of other factors you ought to consider if you are deciding whether to pay your spring 2019 tuition in 2018 or in 2019. A certain amount of tuition will get you the maximum education credit. For the American Opportunity Credit, $4,000 of tuition will give you the maximum tax credit of $2,500. For the Lifetime Learning Credit, $10,000 of tuition will give you the maximum credit of $2,000. If you pay any more than those amounts in one year, the additional tuition payment will not increase your tax credit for that year.

(It's a little more complicated if you have more than one student on your tax return, but I got the impression that that is not your situation. The maximum for the American Opportunity Credit is per student, but the maximum for the Lifetime Learning Credit is per tax return.)

Also, as you probably know, you can only claim the American Opportunity Credit 4 times for any one student. That might affect whether you want to pay more tuition in one year or split it between two years.

I haven't mentioned the Tuition and Fees Deduction because, as of now, that deduction expired at the end of 2017 and is not available for 2018 or later years. That could change if Congress acts in the next few weeks.