How to handle a 1098-T for a high school student concurrently enrolled in a college course

[Andv]

High school daughter (dependent) is concurrently enrolled in a college course. She received a 1098T (Box 1 and Box 5 are identical). TurboTax advises she needs to file her own return. She has no other income. Can we just include the 1098-T on our return? If she needs to create her own return, do we remove the 1098-T from our return?

[AmyC · Accepted solution]

It depends. There are many options and much maneuvering allowed. There are 2 college credits, the AOTC is only allowed 4 times and reduces your tax liability. The LLC can be claimed unlimited times. Of course, if your income is too high, the credit won't matter.  You cannot claim the credit if your MAGI is over $90,000 ($180,000 for joint filers).  The IRS has a great brochure that explains how scholarships and tax credits interact.

The options boil down to:

• Do nothing, box 1 equals box 5, no taxable income, no tax credit, nobody files the informational form.
• If the parent can claim a credit:
  •  parent enters 1098-T  box 1 to claim credit - probably LLC since high school
  • student enter 1098-T box 5 to claim scholarship income, if required to file. See Filing requirement

Reference:  What You Need to Know about AOTC and LLC

[Andv]

Thanks AmyC! The Filing Requirement survey stated my daughter does not need to file her own return. I also completed a return for my daughter (to see how Turbo Tax would treat her situation) and TurboTax noted if we included her income on our return she would not need to file since she had "no income from working." Thanks for helping address our situation.