Q. I received Employer-Provided Assistance for education. Do I need to include this for receiving a scholarship or grant?
A. Maybe. But, it will be entered as employer assistance, not scholarship.
First you need to understand what's going on. There is no "earnings summary box" on your W-2. If all the employer education assistance was already included in box 1 of your W-2, you do not report the assistance, again, anywhere on your tax return. Since that money was subject to tax, it is treated as your after tax money and you can claim a tuition credit based on that payment.
But, it is unusual for all the employer assistance to be in box 1, of the W-2. Employers are allowed to give you up to $5250 of assistance tax free. That is the first $5250 is not shown in box 1, or anywhere else, on the W-2 (rarely it may be in box 14).
The school may or may not have already included the assistance in box 5 of the form 1098-T (if your employer paid the school directly). No further adjustment is needed, in TT, if the amount was less than $5250. Otherwise, the follow up interview will ask if you had employer assistance not already shown. Enter the amount there (but not more than $5250), rather than as scholarship.
