The information may be what is being reported. But the IRS is not getting a copy of that form. With that said, there is the possibility that the 1098-T could be completely different and not agree at all with what is being reported to the IRS. It doesn't happen that often. But it does happen. One wrong 1098-T is one to many. For the most part, you can probably trust it. But if you get questioned on your education expesnes by the IRS and it's related to your 1098-T information, you can always provide them a copy of the one you recived.
If the one you got was wrong, it would preclude you from having to pay penalties maybe. But you would STILL have to correct your tax return if it was in fact, wrong because of the 1098-T information. Of the eight years my 2 kids were in college, I had one year when the 1098-T was so far off, it was useless. Stopped trusting the 1098-T's after that.
