MiriamF
Intuit Alumni

Education

It sounds like you got a 2016 form 1098-T that has no entries in Box 1 or Box 2 that reports scholarship money in Box 5. You also got a 2015 form 1098-T that has an amount in Box 2 and Box 7 is checked, indicating that at least part of the tuition reported in Box 2 was for spring semester.

If this is what you are asking about, on your 2015 tax return you needed to report the amount in Box 2 minus the spring semester tuition. Otherwise, in your final year of school, you will get a 1098-T with an amount in Box 5 but nothing to counterbalance it in Box 1 or Box 2. If you were to report your 2016 1098-T as written, then you would owe tax on the scholarship money.

The instructions for form 8863 say that you should enter only the amount you actually paid. Because the school will be reporting the spring semester scholarship on next year's form 1098-T, you will be better off reducing the amount paid in 2015. 

When you fill out form 1098-T in TurboTax, below Box 2. Amounts billed for tuition, you will see a sentence in blue, What if this is not what [the student] paid to this school? Click on that link, and you will be able to enter the amount actually paid. Don't forget to report the cost of your books and required supplies.

These instructions work for both your 2015 and 2016 returns.

Follow this link for the complete form 8863 instructions.


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