PA Tuition Distribution Page

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
February 1, 2020
1 reply
0 views

Hi Community,

Doing my MFJ return, I filled in the info during federal tax from 1099-Q (from 529 plans)and 1098-T. We had two distributions one in the parent name and another one in student-child's name with student child as beneficiary in both distributions. College expenses were paid by these distributions only.

I am looking for help here in answering these question in Turbotax while doing PA state tax. Following question popped up in PA with 1st question filled out with amount what was in distribution amount in the parent name.

1. Total Distributions from Your Federal Return
2. Amount Used for Qualified Educational Purposes
3. Contributions Made in 2018 and Earlier
4. Excess Contributions Made in 2019
5. Prior Year Distributions

I am not sure about the answers to above.

1 Shouldn't amount on first one be changed to total of both 1099-Q distributions?

2. Should answer to qualified expenses (Question 2 above) be total expenses from 1098-T (box1) or total amount paid from distribution money.

3. What is Contributions Made in 2018 and Earlier (Question3 above) ? I have other child who is not in college. Do I need to include contributions done for him as well. Is it Contribution basis or earnings or both?

4. What is Excess Contributions Made in 2019 (Question4 above) ? Is it all 529 plan contributions made in 2019 ? Do I add contribution for both children.

5. What is Prior Year Distributions (Question5 above) ? This is first year in college so there is none. Do I have to keep track of it from now on?

Thanks for your advice. Much Appreciated.

Taxonama

KathrynG3

Level 14

See page 38 of the PA-40 Instructions which explain Pennsylvanis is determining if any distribution was not for educational expenses. If this occurred, there would be a state level tax. Therefore, TurboTax asks these questions but it will likely result in no effect on your return.

1. Yes, you could. But technically, always go by the social security number on the instrument--your daughter is not filing her taxes on your return

2. All educational expenses. Please see this article about 529 distributions

3. Tie it to the funds used just for your daughter, no earnings

4. It depends if you were out of compliance with your particular 529 plan in your particular state. It is likely n/a

5. n/a since this is the first year, you are correct. Yes, it will be easier to keep all Section 529 information and forms received together for future reference