Hope Credit 2008 - Over 40

[zeros]

Client wants to amend return as he did not claim Hope credit for 2008. Everything looks ok and he has a 1098-T. The only thing is his age. Would this disqualify him? He worked in the mines in Minnesota after high school and had no college up to now. His 1098-T shows payments (1) of $4519.00 and Scholarships (5) of $7338.00.

[AJsTax]

Age had no bearing,

as long as it was the first two years of college credit, but if the numbers posted match up to the actual expenses and scholarships there is not cost to take against the credit, because he had more scholarships than expense.

[Gretel]

Client wants to amend return as he did not claim Hope credit for 2008. Everything looks ok and he has a 1098-T. The only thing is his age. Would this disqualify him? He worked in the mines in Minnesota after high school and had no college up to now. His 1098-T shows payments (1) of $4519.00 and Scholarships (5) of $7338.00.

You will need to get the actual expenses paid and forget about the ones reported on the 1098-T to see if he indeed received more Scholarships than he paid for tuition.

You didn't asked for this, just as a reminder, if he indeed got more scholarships than he has in expenses, he has taxable income for the difference.

[FEDUKE404]

Get the facts first

As mentioned in numerous posts here, the Form 1098-T is always to be taken with a grain of salt. On the surface, his scholarships exceed qualified expenses and thus no credit. Of course, there could be more than one calendar year at play here, so you need the "real" expenses and reimbursements for same.

Potentially he might have "income" but my experience is the "scholarship" numbers are frequently for different time periods than the "qualifying expenses" numbers.

Is there potentially a GI bill issue?

Don't forget the underlying requirements such as enrolled at least half time (course load) etc for Hope, as well as pursuing degree. If the Hope crashes and burns the less restrictive credits might work.

FE