I will soon start a postdoc, which is being paid through an NSF fellowship. The fellowship is paid in part through a monthly "stipend" and the other part is given as an "allowance" which is paid in one lump sum at the beginning. The stipend is straightforward, but the allowance is where I'm confused.
The allowance is meant to cover research expenses (e.g. conference travel) and fringe benefits (e.g. health insurance). Assuming the portion of my allowance that is not used on such expenses is taxable, I would ideally subtract my total expenses from the allowance to compute my income.
However, I am to receive my allowance near the end of 2016 in one lump sum, but it will be mostly used towards expenses in 2017. Would this make my allowance nearly fully taxable for 2016, and then I would have no allowance to deduct expenses from in 2017? Ideally, I would treat the "leftover" from the allowance as income for 2017. Please advise.
I should add that the fellowship states the if I were to quit midway, I have to return a prorated portion of the allowance (so this allowance is also conditional. Another reason why it seems unfair to treat it as "income" for tax year 2016). Also, the NSF issues no W-2s or 1099s.
