Incorrect 1098-T

[socalstudent86]

my 1098-T has me listed as receiving over $19,000 in aid but when i add up all my aid from 2020 including both school years it only comes up to $15,800? And my tuition paid is only listed as 14,000 when it should be closer to 16,000 from when I add up all my fees on my student portal.  I was also still required to pay over $1000 each quarter out of pocket despite my financial aid apparently being much higher than my fees? Are there aspects of this I’m not understanding, I attend a UC school so I find it hard to imagine they would make a mistake? If I were to calculate this information myself would I be penalized for not following the 1098-T? If not, what exactly would I add up onto my fees and award? 

[LinaJ2020 · Accepted solution]

No, you will not be penalized for not following what the Form 1098-T reports.  You school might have reported your information incorrectly on the Form 1098-T.  This often happens.  You should report the actual amount of tuition you paid in 2020. In the program, you are allowed to make an adjustment under box 1.  It is important to enter the actual amount of tuition expenses you paid.  This allow the program to calculate your education tax break correctly on either a Form 8863 or Form 8917.  Here are the steps to make adjustment on the Form 1098-T:

In TurboTax online, 

• Sign in to your account, select Pick up where you left off
• At the right upper corner, in the search box, type in "1098t" and Enter
• Select Jump to 1098t
• Follow prompts
• On the screen, under box 1, check the box This is not what," Student' Name paid to school"
• Enter the actual amount you paid
• See image 

If you have paid qualified education expenses and meet certain requirements, you may qualify for an education tax break including the American Opportunity Tax Credit AOTC, Lifetime Learning Credit or Tuition & Fees deduction. To see if you qualify, here are the links: 

Qualified expenses

Deductions

Credits

[socalstudent86]

Thank you! That relaxes me! I was also wondering, if the school charged me for fees in 2019, but financial aid and any of my payments were not applied until 2020 would I include those fees in my total paid as well? I believe that is the reason they placed my financial aid so high but kept my tuition so low.

[KrisD15]

You can adjust the amount of the scholarship that went to expenses of a different year, OR increase the amount for Box 1.