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New Member
posted Feb 9, 2020 10:34:35 AM

It says that my grants/ Scholarships’s exceed my college fees but it’s not true because the fees covered my study abroad program. Idk how to enter that info

Because of this I don’t qualify for a tax break... but I feel I should. Help?

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1 Replies
Level 15
Feb 9, 2020 10:40:12 AM

First, if you are an undergraduate under the age of 24 on Dec 31 of the tax year, chances are "extremely" high that you are not the one that reports the educaton stuff on your tax return. Your parent's do since they would most likely qualify to claim you as a dependent on their tax return.

Next, schoarships/grants can only be used for the qualified education expenses of tuition, books, and lab fees. That's it with no exceptions.

So my first question is, were you under the age of 24 on Dec 31 of the tax year?

If yes to the above, then did you have enough earned income in 2019 to "prove" that you provided more than half of your own support? Scholarships, grants, 529 distributions, gifts from Aunt Mary, etc do not count for you providing your own support. The only way you can claim to have provided more than half of your own support is if you had a job or were self-employed "and" you earned "at least" $1 more than all other 3rd party income, to include scholarships, grants and anything else.