Hi there. My employer pays for all of my tuition and school expenses including books and such. I received a 1098-T form stating 6069.20 paid in tuition in box 1, and 6069.20 in scholarships/grants in box 5. My issue is, how do I tell if they included that in my wages on my W2? Doing the math, it kind of adds up... but I can't find any certain answers on this. From the company that my employer does tuition assistance through:
What happens if I receive more than $5,250 in educational benefits in a year?
If eligible, your tuition and other education benefits may total more than $5,250 in a year. If so, the excess is generally considered to be taxable wages. This means that the extra amount may be subject to the same tax withholding (and other rules) as wage income.
What’s a “tax gross-up” and how would it affect the taxation of educational benefits more than $5,250?
Some employers offer tax gross-ups. If so, they will gross up tax liability incurred by you on your paycheck while you're participating in the education benefit.
If your employer doesn't provide tax gross-ups, the amount that goes over $5,250 per year may be reflected as taxable income on your W-2. In some states, this amount may also be subject to applicable state income tax.
How should I reflect this on my taxes? I ask because when continuing with the process of filling everything out, I end up at a section that forces me to review certain items on my 1098-T that don't add up to their calculations - namely this section that states "Portion of box 5 from tax free benefits plus employer-provided assistance included income should not be greater than box 5 amount, $6069." And in the box it is filled out as $6069. I cannot continue unless I lower this value, so I changed it to $5250, and had the remaining $819 as tuition reported as income on my W2. Is this correct?
