Graduate fellowship stipend -- what counts as room and board? What is taxable?

[qianj]

I am a graduate student and I receive a $40k stipend towards living expenses that is not on a W-2 or 1098-T. I have entered this in TurboTax as "Other Scholarships/Fellowships/Grants". TurboTax then asks me if any of my total scholarship income ($40k stipend plus tuition grants) was used for "room and board". What does "room and board" mean? Is it literally just food and lodging expenses, or is it everything that's not a qualified educational expense (tuition, fees, etc)?

My actual expenses for food and lodging total about $16k for the year. I earned about $16k in W-2 wages for the year as well, and I paid $18k in tuition for the year. Can I say that those wages went towards "room and board" and say none of my $40k stipend went towards room and board? Or is it $40k-$18k = $22k went toward room and board? 

My gut tells me that my taxable income should be stipend + wages - tuition = $38k, so the former approach seems correct. Is that right?

My thanks.

[CarolC]

Your gut is correct:  stipend + wages - tuition = $38k.

Room and board means only your lodging and meals.  It could be an apartment your rent, a house you live in, or on-campus dorms.

Enter your 1098-T as well as the fellowship received in the Education Expenses & Scholarships section of TurboTax.  After you enter your 1098-T information, the next page will include a box for scholarships/grants (for all schools) you received.  You can include the $40,000 stipend there.

TurboTax is asking you to separate your expenses to determine how much of the fellowship is taxable.  The amount paid for room and board is taxable.  The amount used to pay for tuition is tax-free.  The IRS states the following:

"Qualified Education Expenses (tax-free):

• Tuition and fees required to enroll at or attend an eligible educational institution.
• Course-related expenses, such as fees, books, supplies, and equipment that are required for the courses at the eligible educational institution. 

Qualified education expenses do not include the cost of (taxable):

• Room and board.
• Travel.
• Research.
• Clerical help.
• Equipment and other expenses that are not required for enrollment in or attendance at an eligible educational institution.

This is true even if the fee must be paid to the institution as a condition of enrollment or attendance. Scholarship or fellowship amounts used to pay these costs are taxable."

[maglib]

@qianj  the room & board you enter must be the lower of your actual amounts or the amounts the school would bill for the period of time at the school....

[qianj]

Thank you for the answers. In that case I believe the software is flawed, because the only question asked is "how much of your fellowships was used towards room and board" and if I just enter the amount of scholarship used for food and lodging ($0k, since I covered food and lodging with my wages), TurboTax says my taxable income is ~$16k, which just comes from my wages and doesn't count the stipend.

[maglib]

THE IRS ASSUMES you used the scholarship or grant for education expenses prior to using other earned income.
 You can not enter $0 as the amount for room & board and other expenses, you must enter the actual amount used for room & board.
How did you answer the question on the stipend
Did you pay room & board (OR ANY OF THESE EXPENSES) with scholarship or grant?  You MUST ANSWER YES!!  You must enter all but the amount used for eligible education expenses tuition & deductible fees.

[qianj]

@maglib that's the exact problem with the software as is, it SHOULD ask "How much of the stipend was used for eligible education expenses?" and then count any leftover as income. But what the software currently asks is "How much did you use for room and board and travel and equipment?" which is not the same thing as "all but the amount used for eligible education expenses."

[maglib]

I agree it is worded poorly. I've been asking TT to fix the education interview. Lots of it is worded from IRS sites but, it's one thing reading an IRS rule and wholly another trying to make it work within a Q&A program.