Thanks so much for your reply.
Let's see if I can answer the y ear and the Lifetime Learning Credit issue.
First, the lifetime learning Credit....
TLDR: TurboTax forces us to accept Lifetime Learning Credit and it cant be undone or disabled. This cannot be claimed if expenses are paid by employer. 2023 IRS publication 970clearly says one cannot claim lifetime learning credit if "[...]the same expenses paid with a tax-free scholarship, grant, or employer-provided educational assistance[.]" So this might be a TT tech support issue?
TurboTax flow chart: first asks for user input for Scholarships and Grants information: where we are presented with an empty field next to "Employer-Provided Assistance." ( Its important to note that TurboTax specifies that any amount entered here should not already be on any W2 or other tax form. In our case, and probably many other working students' cases, this dollar amount won't likely exist any tax form or w2 because its an Employer-Provided Assistance tax free benefit less than $5,250... and thus fulfill this specification obligation).
Now, regardless if I leave this field empty, or enter $5,000, TurboTax will then lead to a page "Next, We'll See Which Credit Will Save You the Most" and it only give the option to "Maximize my Education Tax Break" where it defaults to qualifying us for Lifetime Learning Credit.
That is concern 1. double dipping and I can't disable it.
Concern 2:
Regarding the ~$5,000 from the employer, it arrived in January 2024. On its face, I should not enter anything for this 2023 taxes... but TT asks for this information and doesn't stipulate anything for handling fall semester delayed reimbursement situations. But i could infer something for 2024 in this case...
But to my understanding, it wont be on any w2 for either year. I guess I could say the $5000 was for 2023 since 2023's efforts where where it was earned...good grades and all that to earn it. However, since the deposit arrived in 2024 maybe I have to stick with that for accounting sake, but not enter it for 2023 filing?
The delayed reimbursement should not open us up to receiving the Lifetime Learning Credit for 2023 either.
In reality, work paid for school. But the year we received that "income" was 2024. Its just confusing because TT seems to want this information.
"if it is 2024, that could affect your tax free income this year, 2024"
I am probably missing something important here, if you can see how this might be true, could you elaborate?
Thanks so much for your reply.
