topic Can room and board (like rent and groceries) be noted under "Books and materials not required to be purchased from the school"? from the 1098-t form? in Education

Can room and board (like rent and groceries) be noted under "Books and materials not required to be purchased from the school"? from the 1098-t form?

andreatam — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 20:47:09 GMT

My scholarship included tuition and stipend, in which tuition was separately listed in box 5 for Scholarship and Grants and the stipend was listed in box 1 for Payments received for qualified tuition and related expenses.

Re: Can room and board (like rent and groceries) be noted under "Books and materials not required...

GiseleD — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 21:06:17 GMT

Room and board are not qualified education expenses (below).

Qualified Education Expenses

Qualified education expenses are tuition, fees, and course materials required for enrollment or attendance at an eligible educational institution.

You may need to refer to your institution's account statement to determine which portion of your qualified education expenses were paid out-of-pocket/via loans and which were reimbursed/covered with scholarships.

Re: Can room and board (like rent and groceries) be noted under "Books and materials not required to be purchased from the school"? from the 1098-t form?

Hal_Al — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 21:09:36 GMT

Q. Can room and board (like rent and groceries) be noted under "Books and materials not required to be purchased from the school"? from the 1098-t form?

A. Room & board (R&B) are not qualified expenses for the tuition credit or deduction. R&B are qualified expenses for distributions from a 529 plan. In TurboTax (TT), R&B are entered separately from books and course materials.

"My scholarship included tuition and stipend, in which tuition was separately listed in box 5 for Scholarship and Grants and the stipend was listed in box 1 for Payments received for qualified tuition and related expenses".

That is not an accurate description of a 1098-T. Box 1 is qualified tuition and fees paid, regardless of the source of payment. It could include scholarships or loans or out of pocket payments. Box 5 is total scholarships, regardless of what they were designated for. "Stipends" may, or may not, be included in box 5. You would have to determine that from your own records.

Re: Can room and board (like rent and groceries) be noted under "Books and materials not required...

andreatam — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 21:23:50 GMT

Thank you @GiseleD and @Hal_Al!