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Get your taxes done using TurboTax
The IRS has a publication, Fulbright Grants | Internal Revenue Service.
The report explains that It may be all taxable or partially taxable. The difference is if you are reporting it as a Scholarship or Wages. There is also a section on deductions, exclusions and credits.
I am assuming that your girlfriend worked this as a job so the Fulbright scholarship would be considered wages in this case. She may qualify for the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion or the Foreign Tax Credit. However, if the purpose was research and part of a degree program, then it is scholarship.
As for the airfare, it seems to have been a temporary assignment - less than one year and is covered in Publication 463 (2022), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses. I believe the employer considered the travel as a fringe benefit, which makes it fully taxable. In addition, employee expenses have been mostly eliminated since 2018.
Pub 463 states:
Reimbursement for personal expenses.
If your employer reimburses you for nondeductible personal expenses ... your employer must report the reimbursement as wage income in box 1 of your Form W-2. You can’t deduct personal expenses.
If this scholarship was a job, enter the income as other wages not reported on a w2. Follow these steps:
- Go to federal
- Income and expenses
- Less Common Income
- Miscellaneous Income
- Other income not already reported on W-2
- Other wages received
- Wages earned as a Household Employee > Leave Blank
- Sick or Disability pay > Leave Blank
- Any Other Earned Income > Yes
- Enter Source of Other Income > Other
- Enter the description and amount
Deductions are available for 1099-MISC entries related to school. If she was doing research. Then pub 463 states:
you may deduct from your taxable Fulbright grant income any amounts you spent on (1) tuition, (2) fees, (3) books, (4) supplies, and (5) equipment required for your courses.
If she is entering this as a scholarship:
- Log into the return
- Federal
- Click on Income
- Scroll to the bottom section, Less Common Income
- Select Miscellaneous income, 1099-A, 1099-C, start
- Select Other income not already reported on a W2 or 1099, start/edit
- Other wages? Yes, continue
- continue, continue
- Other Earned Income, yes, continue
- Source? other, continue
- Description - Fulbright, amount
- Done
If there any educational deductions as listed above, then go through the same steps 1-10
11. Description - educational expenses
12. Amount is entered as a negative
13. Done
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