Yes, this is true. For 2016 an eligible educational institution is not required to provide the Form 1098-T to you in certain circumstances, for example:
- Nonresident alien students, unless the student requests the institution to file Form 1098-T,
- Students whose tuition and related expenses are entirely waived or paid entirely with scholarships or grants, or
- Students for whom the institution does not maintain a separate financial account and whose qualified tuition and related expenses are covered by a formal billing arrangement with the student’s employer or a government agency, such as the Department of Veterans Affairs or the Department of Defense.
However you can still claim your 2016 qualified education expenses on your tax return. You don't necessarily need
a Form 1098-T to claim
any of the various federal tax benefits for educational expenses. These
include:
1)
American Opportunity Credit
2)
Lifetime Learning Credit
3)
Tuition & Fees Deduction
4)
Educational expense (deduction) related to your self-employment; or as an
educational expense undertaken at the request of your employer for which you
did not get reimbursed.
An
official 1098-T is not absolutely required in order to claim any of them.
The IRS does not explicitly mandate that you as a taxpayer have a 1098-T.
There are exceptions to the rule. Proof of your expenses in the form
cancelled checks to your school, bank statements, or a statement of student
account from your school's registrar office are good enough to satisfy the
recordkeeping provisions of the law.
In TurboTax, you'll simply tell the program that
"yes" you incurred educational expenses, but that "no" you
don't have a 1098-T. You'll then be presented with the opportunity to
input the dollar amounts of your educational expenses. You may
additionally find the information at the following TurboTax FAQ pages helpful:
https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Tax-Deductions-and-Credits/What-are-Education-Tax-Cre...
https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/College/Video--What-Educational-Expenses-Are-Tax-Dedu...
https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/5664307
https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/5663752
