The facts as I understand them:
- My husband and I are filing jointly and claimed our daughter (1st yr college student, 18yo in 2024) as dependent.
- Our daughter received a 1098-T: box 1: $16,860, box 5: $1,500 (scholarship awarded by her college for tuition only)
- She also received a 1099-Q: box 1: $5,552 (distribution from her Coverdell ESA)
- Her tuition for the 2024-25 year was $18,000, charged to her account in June 2024. She was a full-time student from Aug 2024 to the present, working on a 4yr bachelor's.
- In July 2024, her college applied the $1,500 scholarship to her tuition balance, her Coverdell account sent $5,552 directly to the college towards the tuition balance, and finally she paid $10,948 from her own bank account to pay off the tuition balance.
- She spent $472.51 on books for college in 2024 (not required to be purchased from the school). This amount counts as an education expense that can be deducted.
- Our daughter must file taxes because the total of her 2024 W-2s and 1099-INT are over $13k.
- My husband and I claimed our daughter's American Opportunity Credit of $2,500 on our taxes.
- Our daughter's Coverdell distribution is not taxable income because her adjusted QEE is greater than the distribution of $5,552.
So, my question is about what to enter and where as I walk through Turbo Tax. I have two separate returns started in TT: 1) our daughter and 2) my husband and me jointly. I'm confused about:
- Where do I enter the info from 1098-T? I'm tempted to enter that info on both ours and our daughter's returns, just to cover my bases. But is that wrong? I don't want to claim something double, but I also want to make sure we give the IRS what it requires.
- Also, where do I enter the info from 1099-Q? On my daughter's because she's the student/beneficiary? or on ours since we are taking the AOC?
- Who takes the $472.51 deduction for education expenses? Does it matter or does it have to be the person who takes the AOC?
Thanks!
