So yes, its part of Box 1 on the 1099-T I guess. So the 1099-Q is embedded in the 1099-T?
Yes. That's generally true if the money was paid directly out of the 529 account to the school. But don't guess on this. You need to know it for a provable fact. (It sounds like you're not sure, and you need to "know")
Have the student log in to their online college account and go to their financials section. They can do a detailed printout there. A few things about that printout.
Remember, schools work in academic years, the IRS works in calendar years. For this particular thing, you don't care where the money was applied. You only care the *date* money was acknowledged as received.
So add up everything received by the school in 2019. This will include scholarships, grants, 529 funds and money you paid out of pocket.
If the total received by the school in 2019 is the same as box 1 of the 1098T and the list of received income includes the 529 funds, then you will *NOT* enter the 1098-Q at all, anywhere, on any tax return. Otherwise, the beneficiary recipient would be double-dipping and that *will* generate a paper audit-by-mail.
Now sometimes the math won't "seem" to work for reasons I really don't want to go into here, as it will just add to the confusion That's okay. The important thing is, if the 529 distribution paid directly to the school appears as a separate line item on the financial printout, then it "is" included in the 1098-T box 1 without a doubt.
