I am the student and contributed zero. My parent set up the plan and made all contributions. The Turbotax question asks for ALL contributions to the plan, but whose contributions are they referring to?
Both. All contributions include contributions made by you and your parents.
OK, and what about the question before that one, where it asks how much "you" contributed to the 529 in 2021? Is that how much I myself contributed (which was zero) or how much my parent contributed?
Enter 0 there if you did not make any contributions to the 529 plan. That questions is asking you about a tax deduction that you are not qualified to take. Contributions to a New York 529 plan of up to $5,000 per year by an individual, and up to $10,000 per year by a married couple filing jointly, are deductible in computing New York taxable income. Only contributions made by the account owner, or if filing jointly, by the account owner's spouse, are deductible. Don't deduct contributions your parents made on your tax return.
The two answers I received here seem inconsistent. If I need to answer "0" for all contributions for the years 1998-2021, shouldn't it be "0" for the question about what "you" contributed in 2021? Again, I made no contributions ever, my parent made a contribution in 2021 and in prior years. I just want to be sure I answer this correctly.
All a matter of perspective. If you are in the NY return, there is an education adjustment for 529 activity. If you personally had no contributions and had no nonqualified withdrawals, then you should not be in that section. Because you stated 1998 forward, it feels like you had a distribution and the program is looking for a basis which would include everything your parents paid into it. Where are you in the program and did you have a distribution along with a 1098T? You may not need to enter any of the information depending on 1098T boxes 1 and 5.