It depends. The IRS does not accept taxpayer notes unless included on an official IRS form for correspondence. The Publication 970 as noted below does allow for the expenses of the first three months of the next year to be included in the current year. As long as the distribution matches qualified education expenses in this extended time frame, there is no excess distribution to explain.
See this article for more information Can I include education expenses on my 2019 return that I paid 2018 or earlier?
For more details about education expenses and reporting Form 1098-T, see the articles below:
- How do I enter Form 1098-T?
- How do I enter Form 1099-Q?
- Qualifying education expenses
- IRS Publication 970 Tax Benefits for Education, page 40 for Academic period in column one and Prepaid Expenses in column 2.
@sacbut
