Log into your online college account and get everything you need from the financial details section of your account. PAY ATTENTION TO DATES! This is important. The date you are interested in is the date a transaction was applied. Not the date of the class it was applied to.
Also understand the 1098-T. Box 1 shows the amount actually paid in the tax year that 1098-T is for. Box 2 shows the amount "BILLED" in the tax year that 1098-T is for. That does not mean you paid it in that year.
For a box 2 amount, the way the TruboTax program handles that, is the following screens will specifically and explicitly ask you if you paid that billed amount in the tax year that 1098-T is for. If you indicated that you DID PAY that amount in the tax year the 1098-T is for, then it's treated "as if" the amount was in box 1.
So be careful. As Elmer Fudd would say, "Be vewwy, vewwy carfuwl". If you double dip by claiming an amount in 2016 that you paid and claimed in 2015, the IRS "will" catch it in about 24-36 months down the road, and the fines and penalties will more than offset any "credits" you may have gotten.
Also for the purposes of credits, since you graduated in 2016, that year is your 5th calendar year of college. Credits such as the AOC are limited to four years. So if you took those credits in your first four calendar years, you won't get it for 2016.
Remember, colleges work in academic years, while the IRS works in calendar years. So the reality is, it takes you 5 calendar years to get that four year degree. Generally, that 4th academic year is paid in full, with payment for the 2nd semester of that 4th academic year due by the end of the 4th calendar year. So any credits would have been claimed and maxed out already, prior to the calendar year of graduation.
