Hi,
I graduated from university in spring of 2021 and am currently filing as independent. Previously, I was claimed as a dependent by my parents.
My parents apparently paid my tuition and other university expenses in the fall of 2020 (within the 3 months that my spring 2021 classes would commence). They already claimed this in their taxes. As a result, my 1098-T form has a value of 0 in Box 1 (tuition/expenses) and a value of thousands of dollars in Box 5 (scholarships or grants). My tax preparer says that because of this, the difference between scholarships and expenses results in an income; thus, I owe money.
This all seems very convoluted, and I feel like there surely has to be some kind of workaround for this?
