@pgou2209 wrote:
Was your stipend more than the amount in the 1099?
No it's equal.
Or, maybe the difference between box 5 and box 1 of the 1098 is a student health fee or insurance, paid by the school that is separate from the stipend?
This is accurate, my student health insurance is paid for with the scholarship.
Another thing I should mention is that from January to June I was on a scholarship and then from, July to December I was on a government fellowship. This information may also help clarify my situation.
Generally speaking, this is all taxable.
Your taxable income is the amount of your stipend plus the amount of health insurance premiums that the school paid for you (as if they had paid you a larger stipend and then deducted the premiums.)
For the 1098-T, enter as shown. For the 1099-MISC, make sure it is entered as a fellowship, not self-employment. There should be a box to check for scholarship, fellowship or something similar on a page listing special circumstances, after entering the 1099. Or, you may get a series of test questions that you have to answer all as no (not for profit, not similar to work, not the same as my regular job, etc. This is not work or a job, it is education, even if you are doing research.)
I'm not aware of a way to make the insurance payments non-taxable. You might see if someone else has advice here, or check your graduate student office. A "health fee" assessed by the school should be non-taxable, and if a health fee was assessed separate from the health insurance, it should have been included in box 1 along with the tuition waiver.
Since your taxable income is a shade over $36,000, you won't be eligible for the FreeFile version of Turbotax, and with the 1098-T, Turbotax online is probably going to want to charge you close to $100 for state and federal filing. You might check the IRS FreeFile site to see if there are other companies that will prepare a return for free with an income more than Turbotax's free limit of $36K.
