topic Not eligible for American Opportunity Credit - says scholarships exceed expenses.... in Deductions & credits

Not eligible for American Opportunity Credit - says scholarships exceed expenses....

acqflisu — Mon, 20 Jul 2020 02:10:13 GMT

Not sure why it is not giving me the American Opportunity Credit for my dependent daughter. It says "It Turns Out the Education Assistance Counts as Income. This happens if the assistance exceeds education expenses....". The 1098-T shows $14,400 for qualified tuition and expenses, and $8600 for scholarships. By my math, the assistance does not exceed the expenses. What am I missing? I should qualify for all other conditions like MAGI, etc..

Re: Not eligible for American Opportunity Credit - says scholarships exceed expenses....

Hal_Al — Mon, 20 Jul 2020 11:36:31 GMT

You've answered something wrong, possibly the " Did (student's name) aid include amounts not awarded for 2019 expenses" question.

Go through the entire education interview until you reach a screen titled "Your Education Expenses Summary". Click delete next to the student's name, and start over.

Re: Not eligible for American Opportunity Credit - says scholarships exceed expenses....

acqflisu — Mon, 20 Jul 2020 13:56:38 GMT

Thanks for the suggestion, but still coming up empty. I did not find the point where I can delete the student outright. I have gone through the entire interview making various selections to see if it would make an impact and still not. Turbotax continues to tell me the education assistance counts as income. The explanation is that this happens when: education assistance exceeds education expenses (~$14000 expenses excluding room & board, ~$8000 assistance), if money used for non-qualified expenses (~$14000 is tuition), or if not enrolled in degree program at eligible school....

Re: Not eligible for American Opportunity Credit - says scholarships exceed expenses....

Carl — Mon, 20 Jul 2020 13:56:38 GMT

Another question parents answer wrong on their tax return also, is this one:

Did the STUDENT provide more than 50% of THEIR OWN support?

Many parent's mis-read that question and incorrectly answer yes. Be aware that third party income does not count for the student providing their own support. That would be things like scholarships, grants, 529 distributions, gifts from Aunt Mary, money from mom and dad, etc.

Re: Not eligible for American Opportunity Credit - says scholarships exceed expenses....

acqflisu — Mon, 20 Jul 2020 13:59:04 GMT

For sure answered NO for this. She would be closer to 0% 😐.

Re: Not eligible for American Opportunity Credit - says scholarships exceed expenses....

acqflisu — Sun, 26 Jul 2020 04:37:53 GMT

Looks like I got it to work! I had to go to the forms version and selected the optimizer and it gave me the credit. Then it gave it to me in the step by step after that.