Where do I enter room and board expenses not included in a 1098-T for a dependent college student ?

[JShere]

Turbo tax asks for book and materials, and then says room and board not paid to the university will be entered "later". "Later" never comes. any thoughts?

[Hal_Al]

You can't enter those expenses yet. This is a known glitch in TurboTax (TT). They are working on it (no announced fix date).   The 2025 education and 529 sections appear totally redesigned, from last year. 

[bartzda67]

yeah - I think I just asked the same question as I'm getting hit on a taxable 529 withdrawal because I cannot enter my RB expenses.  To get by for now, I entered all in required materials - the outcome is right but it messes up the calcs on the student worksheet and puts all the money on line 3 (books supplies and equipment) and nothing on line 6 for room and board. 

[user17704802684]

It doesnt appear to be available yet in the step-by-step views so switch to the forms view and you can manually enter room and board on form 1098-T.  There is a box for it. 

[TCMGCM]

A potential workaround for now. Go into Forms view. On left pane, select "People wks" form. The dependent should appear as Person on the Return. Scroll down to "Part IV - Education expenses". Enter required room and board, required fees, computer, etc. in the Total column. Note - the form did not populate the additional columns under Amount Eligible for on this form. Save the tax return. On left pane, select "Student info wk". The calculations for Amount Eligible shows up on this form. Note - do not enter the education expenses directly on this form (Student info wk); there is a warning that "Part VI cannot be entered directly on this worksheet. Data must be entered on People Wks." If you enter data here, it will disappear after you exit the program.

[AmyC]

We have been told the room and board should be coming out this weekend. Perhaps as  soon as Friday night.

@TCMGCM  @user17704802684   @bartzda67 

[bartzda67]

That would be fantastic and allow me to finish up cleaning my taxes this weekend!

[bartzda67]

Unfortunately I do not see an updated fix for this in either of the 2 updates this week.  The Thursday morning and Friday morning updates did not address this issue.  I also have noted that TT (desktop) is defaulting to 10K on line 18 of the student info worksheet even though I am not eligible for the AOC or LLC credits.  This is what is really messing up my returns as its making some qualified 529 withdrawals taxable as it no longer shows the right expenses.

not sure if you have gotten any more update from TT if this fix is still in the works.

I assume to deal with both these issue I can just manually add RB expenses on line 6 and zero out the 10K used for credit on line 18 if TT is not actually going to fix the issues on the 1098T section.

[bartzda67]

okay - new update!

I manually updates the student info worksheet and added my RB on line 6 and zeroed on the 10K credit on line 18.  This then showed the correct tax impact.  I then saved the tax form and exited the program.  I restarted it and as was noted by another user, the RB amount was gone, but the 0 stayed on line 18.  my 1098T also noted it needed review.  Now when i did the review, I got a completely new screen that now showed me the ability to enter RB!!!!  So I completed this part of the conversation, save it and exited the program.  Now when I restart TT and reopen my student info wksht for my daughter, line 6 retained the correct RB amount and line 18 stays at zero!

I wonder if the 10K incorrect credit on line 18 was causing the program to not correctly display the new fields for entering RB on the step by step mode??? 

[JShere]

the online version is now fixed in that there is now a room and board section.  however, it is not calculating correctly. the equal numbers 1098-t andd 10990q do not cancel each other out.  it is creating a taxable event.  the problem seems to be the number that is in the earnings section of the 1099-q.  that is creating the taxable event . if you put the entire amount in 3. basis, then there is no taxable event.  at this point, I'm giving up and deleting the sections entirely since you don't have to report 1099-q and 1098t if all the distribution from 1099-q is for qualified education expenses, which it is. 

[jakbb88]

I'm needing this too.  Is there a way to be notified when the update is completed?

[bartzda67]

The updates are there - I can now enter RB in the conversation of the desktop.  However, one thing that I noted on both of my college students and was still causing issues was that TT is still on the Student Info worksheet is filling in $10000  in line 18 of part VI "used for credit..." even though I am not trying to use AOC / LLC.  That then removes 10K of "expenses" and starts making 1099Q money unqualified.   When I zeroed that out,  everything then allocates correctly.   Really interested if AmyC or HalAI have and comments on this.

If you are seeing that you are having 529 money be allocated as taxable when it really should not, I'd first check the student info section VI line 18 and see if you have 10K in that line.  Just the left most box.  TT will carry it over automatically to the other line18 entries as needed.

[bartzda67]

Try going into forms and look at the student info worksheet.  then look in section VI line 18 and see of TT has put $10,000 here (assuming you have not taken AOC or LLC in past years).    they are trying to get you AOC money back by paying some taxes on the 529 gains.  I don't want this.  I zeroed out line 18 and everything then calculated magically as I want with no AOC (I dont qualify but TT is still trying to apply it) and my expenses fully cover my 529 funds.

[jakbb88]

There are no numbers on my son's student worksheet Section VI Line 18

[bartzda67]

Some follow up questions for JAKBB88 - 

Are you still not able to get to the questions on the step by step that asks you for room and board or are you seeing issues with TT making part of your 529 withdrawals be taxable when they should not be taxable.  If I can get some more specifics, I may be able to help you get TT to do what you need it to do.  I've now got my 2 girls 1099Q / 1099T and AOC for my oldest working correctly now in TT.