I am a PhD student. Ordinarily, my university pays me to work as a Teaching Assistant, and this income is reported on a W-2 form.
However, in Spring 2019, I was awarded a fellowship that included a stipend, tuition/fees contribution, and money for health insurance. Moreover, in Fall 2019, I was awarded additional money for teaching the first month of a course when the professor fell ill. All of this information was reported on a 1098-T form rather than a W-2 form.
Am I entering the information correctly?
The crucial steps seem to be:
Click "Yes" to "Did you have any higher education expenses in 2019?"
Click "Add a Student" and click "Yes" to "Did you get a 1098-T for the year 2019?"
Upload my 1098-T PDF.
TurboTax automatically enters the following: $12,812.62 for Box 1; $0.00 for Box 4; $28,314.00 for Box 5; Box 7 ("Box 1 includes amounts for an academic period beginning January - March 2020") is unchecked; Box 8 ("At least half-time student") is checked; Box 9 ("Graduate student") is checked; $0.00 for Box 10 ("Insurance contract reimbursement refund").
Click "Yes" to "Did You Receive Any of the Following Tax-Free Benefits Last Year? GI Bill benefits, Veterans' benefits, tax free employer provided assistance."
It asks me, "What portion of the $28,314 from Box 5 on your 1098-T is from veterans' benefits and/or tax-free employer provided assistance?" I enter $13,057, which is the sum of the amounts listed under "Scholarships (tuition and fees)" and "Tuition waivers and exemptions" on my 1098-T (see below).
Click "Yes" to "Did You Receive a Scholarship or Grant in 2019?"
It says, "Enter the amount you received. Don't include amounts already listed on a W-2 or other tax form." It already lists $15,257 (= $28,314 – $13,057) under "Scholarships/Grants/Fellowships listed on 1098-T." I re-enter the aforementioned $13,057 under "Employer-Provided Assistance."
However, it is unclear to me whether the $13,057 included in Box 5 for "Scholarships (tuition and fees)" and "Tuition waivers and exemptions" counts as "tax free employer provided assistance."
If not, then I'm wondering whether I need to enter the full $28,314 into TurboTax at Step 4, even though I never received $13,057 of it (it was automatically applied to my tuition/fees). If I enter the full $28,314 without claiming any tax free employer provided assistance, then TurboTax shows that I owe ~$1,000, which seems really off.
Here is the breakdown of $12,812.62 from Box 1:
$8,674.00 for Tuition and fees payments for Spring 2019
–$122.19 for Excluded payments-trans & med services for Spring 2019
$8,847.00 for Tuition and fees payments for Fall 2019
–$4,464.00 for Excluded payments-tuition reduction pmt for Fall 2019
–$122.19 for Excluded payments-tuition reduction pmt for Fall 2019
Here is the breakdown of $28,314 from Box 5:
$15,257.00 for Scholarships from ss1 for 2019
$4,376.00 for Scholarships (tuition and fees) for Spring 2019
$4,298.00 for Tuition waivers and exemptions for Spring 2019
$4,383.00 for Tuition waivers and exemptions for Fall 2019
Your feedback would be much appreciated!
