Graduate Student Roth IRA Contribution

[AmyC]

@DadFilesForKids  If you received the 1098-T, you absolutely can enter it. Sam's instructions were for most of the people with stipends- that don't seem to have a 1098-T.

The stipend should show on line 1 with wages, salaries, tips, etc.

[DadFilesForKids]

Thanks, @AmyC 

The way TT guided me to enter the 1098-T information caused a warning that a contribution to an IRA was not allowed. 

That seems like a problem. 😕

When I followed Sam's guidance it went OK.

Thanks for your input!

DFFK

[JohnC03]

Fortunately, this does work, but because my wages are 0 in box 1 of my w-2, I receive a message that I cannot e-file and must mail in my return.

[DaveF1006]

That is correct because there must be income to be able to electronically file. 

[melrows]

I have followed these instructions to the letter, but I still get the "Your Roth IRA contribution was too high. You contributed $2,400, but your earned income was 0..." Did TurboTax change the way they count earned income in this section? What is another way I can avoid this excess contribution fee? 

[KrisD15]

To clarify, how did you enter the income? 

[melrows]

I have no W-2 for income. My stipend from my grant is listed under scholarships on my 1098-T. To enter this information, I went to the Federal Taxes, Deductions & Credits, Expenses and Scholarships (Form 1098-T) section. I followed the prompts, but selected the "I did not receive form 1098-T" option. I filled in the information about the school's name and address, and then filled in my grant/stipend in the "other Scholarships/Grants/Fellowships. I also filled in my tuition. I still got the alert that I had zero earned income and therefore had an excess Roth IRA contribution.

[Opus 17]

---

@DadFilesForKids wrote:

Hi @SamS1 ,

You are replying to a discussion from 2 years ago.  The stipend should be reported on line 8r of Schedule 1.  To to this, don't use the 1099 interview.  Enter the stipend income in the educational expenses/scholarships section of TT, as a scholarship not reported on the 1098-T.   To make it taxable, enter the taxable amount when asked how much was used for room & board. 

There's  currently a glitch in TT in getting it to recognize line 8r, Sch 1, as compensation.  See containment article at  https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/retirement-benefits/fellowship-stipend-a...

[Opus 17]

---

@melrows wrote:

I have no W-2 for income. My stipend from my grant is listed under scholarships on my 1098-T. To enter this information, I went to the Federal Taxes, Deductions & Credits, Expenses and Scholarships (Form 1098-T) section. I followed the prompts, but selected the "I did not receive form 1098-T" option. I filled in the information about the school's name and address, and then filled in my grant/stipend in the "other Scholarships/Grants/Fellowships. I also filled in my tuition. I still got the alert that I had zero earned income and therefore had an excess Roth IRA contribution.

---

You are entering it correctly.  To double-check, the stipend should be on line 8r of Schedule 1.  However, there is currently a bug in the program preventing it from recognizing line 8r as eligible compensation.  See this article.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/retirement-benefits/fellowship-stipend-a...

Also note, only post-graduate and post-doctoral fellowships are eligible, not pre-doctoral fellowships.