Basically, as stated above, after you enter the 1098-T, screens that follow will ask you for qualified education expenses, as well as any scholarships and grants that were not included on the 1098-T.
Most of the time and for some (not all) it's actually easier to disregard the 1098-T and use your own records. For the "bible" of what you can claim, the student can log into their online college account, go to their financials section and get a detailed breakdown there. But I forewarn you on this:
Remember what I said above about schools academic years and the IRS calendar years. On the student's printout it may show a detailed breakdown of what specific class an amount was applied to, the start date of the class, the date the payment was applied, etc., etc., etc. It's important to not let dates throw you off. You only want the date/tax year a payment was credited/applied. You should completely ignore the start date of the class that payment applies to.
One things about disregarding the 1098-T that's important. If you do, you can't claim the AOC (American Opportunity Credit). Per IRS Publication 970 at <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p970.pdf">https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p970.pdf</a> page 9, first item under "Reminders"
"To be eligible to claim the American opportunity credit, the law requires a taxpayer (or a dependent) to have received Form 1098-T, Tuition Statement, from an eligible educational institution."
Now from what I see and the way I interpret it, there is no requirement for you to "report" the 1098-T on your tax return. Only a requirement that you "received" a 1098-T. So if you disregard the 1098-T on your tax return, keep that form forever, in case the IRS ever audits you on that and denies you that credit, if you qualify for it and actually claim it.
