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Level 2
March 5, 2026
Question

1099-Q and 1098-T questions

  • March 5, 2026
  • 12 replies
  • 336 views

My son is not a dependent.  We paid for his 2025 graduate school via a 529 qualified withdrawal equal to the tuition charges from his school via direct payment to the school from the 529 plan.

 

My son received the 2025 1099-Q for the withdrawal total of $13,388 and a 1098-T for the schools payments received of $16,440 (minus a scholarship of $3,052).  These amounts match so there should not be any income attributable to my son for the 529 withdrawal.

 

On his tax return, schedule 1 (line 1z) is showing $5,218 of additional income from the 1099-Q withdrawal.  This doesn't make sense to me as he didn't receive the money directly, and 100% of it was used for qualified tuition expenses.

 

Can someone help me to figure out how to correct in Turbotax?  We are using the desktop Mac version.

 

    12 replies

    Level 15
    March 5, 2026

    If you are satisfied that the 529 distribution was used entirely for education expenses (including room and board). Just keep form 1099-Q in yourtax records.

     

    See this TurboTax article.

     

    Also, on form 1099-Q, instructions to the recipient read: "Nontaxable distributions from CESAs and QTPs are not required to be reported on your income tax return. You must determine the taxability of any distribution." 

     

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    Level 2
    March 5, 2026

    Thank you for the reply.  Are you saying that I can delete the 1099-Q from his tax return as 100% of the distribution from the 529 went to a qualified tuition payment?

    Hal_Al
    Level 15
    Level 15
    March 5, 2026

    Confirming what @MinhT1  said, 

    The 1099-Q is  only an informational document. The numbers on it are not required to be entered onto your (or your student's) tax return. The interview is complicated and it's easy to make mistakes. Avoid it if you can and you probably can. 

    You can just not report the 1099-Q, at all, if your student-beneficiary has sufficient educational expenses, including room & board (even if he lives at home) to cover the distribution. When the box 1 amount on form 1099-Q is fully covered by expenses, TurboTax will enter nothing about the 1099-Q on the actual tax forms. But, it will prepare a 1099-Q worksheet for your records (you don’t need it). You would still have to do the math to see if there were enough expenses left over for you to claim the tuition credit. You also cannot count expenses that were paid by tax free scholarships.

    References:

    1. On form 1099-Q, instructions to the recipient reads: "Nontaxable distributions from CESAs and QTPs are not required to be reported on your income tax return. You must determine the taxability of any distribution." 
    2. IRS Pub 970 states: “Generally, distributions are tax free if they aren't more than the beneficiary's AQEE for the year. Don't report tax-free distributions (including qualifying rollovers) on your tax return”.
    3. "IRS Publication 970, Tax Benefits for Education states: If the entire 1099-Q went to qualified expenses, room and board, tuition, etc; then, you do not need to enter the form." 

    Another thing for consideration; room and board are qualifies expenses for a 1099-Q (529 distribution). Rather than using all the after scholarship tuition for the 1099-Q, allocate his room and board to the distribution (also books and computer)  to free up some tuition for the Lifetime Learning Credit (LLC).  Grad students are not eligible for the more generous American Opportunity Credit (AOC or AOTC).  

    Hal_Al
    Level 15
    Level 15
    March 5, 2026

    Q. Can someone help me to figure out how to correct in Turbotax?

    A. One problem, I've seen, and it carries over from last year, is that TT has allocated $10,0000 of expenses to the tuition credit, even though the student is not claiming the credit.  In the past, TT provided a screen  titled  “education expenses used for a tax credit”. It was usually prepopulated (often with $10K). You could change it for the amount you want to allocate to the ed credit (probably $0 in your current scenario). So far, this year, I haven't found that screen, even after the Feb 26-27 updates.

    If you don't get that screen, you can check the student information worksheet. You can manually change it there (line 18*). Make the change in the first column, on the left

     

    *line 17 prior to 2025

    Level 2
    March 5, 2026

    Hi,

     

    Thank you for the reply.  I changed the $10k to zero on the student worksheet (line 18) on the form, not line 17.  After that change, the $5,213 in additional income disappeared and I haven't deleted the 1098-Q form his return.  Also noticed the AOC credit he was getting also went away so his refund was adjusted downward.

     

    Does all this make sense to you, is this the correct approach?

    Hal_Al
    Level 15
    Level 15
    March 5, 2026

    Q.   Are you saying that I can delete the 1099-Q from his tax return as 100% of the distribution from the 529 went to a qualified tuition payment?

    A. Yes, as long as there was no double dipping Counting the tuition for the AOC and/or tax free scholarship.*

     

    Q. Does all this make sense to you, is this the correct approach?

    A. Generally, but with, at least,  a couple of adjustments.  1. Change the $10K to $4000 (not 0), the amount needed to get the maximum AOC.  2. Enter room and board expenses, and any books, computer expenses.

     

    *If you know that the room and board and  books &computer expenses plus the tuition not used for the AOC totals more than the box 1 amount on the 1099-Q, you can delete the 1099-Q from his tax return as 100% of the distribution from the 529 still went to a qualified educational expenses (it doesn't have to be just for the tuition). Student must be half time or more to count room and board  for a 529 distribution.