I have a tax amendment to do for 2019 because my wife and I realized that we got around $1500 that was technically scholarship money, but that was just given to us as cash. I cannot figure out to do that kind of amendment through TurboTax. I know this is off topic for today's event, but any insight?
Was it given as a gift? In that case it isn't a taxable event and doesn't need to be included on your return.
It was from the institution of the school, but I received it with no strings attached as to how we were going to use it. So I guess it was a gift. I just learned that the other money that my wife received was just a discount on her tuition, and there was other money she received from royalties on a play that we forgot to include. So we might need to amend for the taxes related to the royalties, but not the gift from the school. Am I thinking that right? And it wouldn't change anything if the gift were a little more, and I'm just not remembering it correctly?
It sounds like this was a gift, if the amount was given in cash, there are no conditions and it was not recorded on any official forms such a 1099, W2 or 1098-T Form.
Definitely, you should amend to add the royalties to your tax return.
As far as the amount of the gift, as long as it is a gift of less than $15,000, you don't have to file a gift tax return.