@SteveMN wrote:
I am not sure that there is a direct correlation between a foreign university being approved to participate in the U.S. federal student aid program and the school having a U.S. Federal ID Number/FEIN for me to report education expenses. My daughter attends Aberystwyth University in Wales, UK. They are on the list for FAFSA/Student Loans, etc., are approved for U.S. student aid, and appear wherever those lists are found along with their school code used for those purposes. I contacted them and they said they do not have a U.S. Federal ID Number and/or FEIN, but can provide a letter documenting education expenses that they say U.S. filers have successfully used in the past for tax deduction purposes. Unfortunately, Turbo Tax requires the Federal ID Number in order to apply the deduction, does not allow me to override that requirement, and has no capacity to include a letter from the University. If what Aberystwyth says is correct, then this is a flaw in Turbo Tax.
Starting with the 2016 tax year, the student MUST be issued a 1098-T in order for the student or their parents to claim a tuition tax benefit. See questions 18 and 19 here,
https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/individuals/education-credits-questions-and-answers
Also see the first page of publication 970.
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/p970--2020.pdf
The IRS instructions also say that an EIN is required. For these reasons, you can't claim the credits in Turbotax without an EIN and without a 1098-T. It's not a flaw, it's a design requirement that the program must meet IRS requirements to be allowed to connect to the IRS e-filing system.
You may be able to override these requirements if you use the desktop version of Turbotax installed on your own computer. Tax returns with overrides can't be e-filed, they must be printed and mailed, and you can expect the IRS to ask for more documentation regarding your claim of an education tax credit. However, if the school simply can't be bothered with getting an EIN or issuing the 1098-T, your claim for tax credits will probably be denied.
