1098-T box 1 $0 box 2 $9K and still $1500 credit?

[AZ-Tax]

I dont recall ever seeing this on past tax returns. I hit refresh several times and still $1500 tax educaiton credit. Full time Freshman student and box 7 checked.

$4500 Scholarship or Grant also on the 1098-T form.

[taxmom34]

are you ignoring the billed amount and using student's account to figure the credit? none of the 1098T's have an amount paid this year

[Koss]

1098-T = Garbage

The IRS and the universities still haven't figured out how to use this form. The data are practically meaningless. You gotta look at the account statements from the school, and even that may not be enough. Some qualifying expenses, such as books, may not appear on the account statements from the school. And other expenses, such as parking and health insurance, DO show up on the statements.

When I went to college back in the 1800s, I mean back in the early 1990s, you could buy books at the university-owned bookstore and bill them to your student account. But that didn't help much, because you could also buy other stuff, like sweatshirts and board games, and bill them to your account. And the same student account was also billed for room and board if you lived on campus.

1098-T is useful in determing whether the student is full-time, and whether the student is a graduate student. And sometimes, for expensive private schools, you'll find a really large figure in Box 1 or 2, like $24,000, and then a figure in Box 5 for scholarships, like maybe $7500. And in that kind of scenario, if you can verbally confirm from the parents that the annual tuition is really 24K, and that only a fraction of it was covered by scholarships and grants, with the rest paid by the parents, or by loans, or by a rich uncle... then you can probably just conclude that this particular taxpayer is "maxed out" on the AOC. Just plug in $4000 and you're done.

But you still gotta be careful and ask lots of questions. Some scholarships awarded by private foundations may not appear on the 1098-T.

The form is pretty useless. The IRS uses it to confirm that a student is enrolled, full-time or part-time, and the thing about being a graduate student clearly disqualifies them from AOC. If you claim an education credit and the college didn't issue a 1098-T, you may be in for a correspondence audit. But other than that, the form is just junk.

BMK

[dyne]

I had a return where the computer provided a wrong answer. In such cases you may need to delete the data which relates to the problem, calculate again and then re-enter the data and calculate again.

[AJsTax]

Huh?

Are you trying to say that is the amount billed was $9000 with no scholarship/grants shown that the amount paid was not at least $4000?
Go with the $4000 for the AOC and stop making a simple process so difficult. This is a three second form to do.

[Davc]

Are you trying to say that is the amount billed was $9000 with no scholarship/grants shown that the amount paid was not at least $4000?

It could happen.

[Burke]

Absolutely. The 1098-T is a worthless piece of paper and cannot be relied on at all. They will show an amt billed at the end of the year, which is not paid until the following year, for one thing.

[Super Mom]

If the at least half time box is not checked, and we have carefully determined that the student was at least half time, is that a problem? I had a TP get a corrected one last year, but now thinking that's not necessary??

[FEDUKE404]

Oxymoron of the highest level

If the at least half time box is not checked, and we have carefully determined that the student was at least half time, is that a problem? I had a TP get a corrected one last year, but now thinking that's not necessary??

A CORRECTED Form 1098-T !!!

FE

[Gary2]

If the at least half time box is not checked, and we have carefully determined that the student was at least half time, is that a problem? I had a TP get a corrected one last year, but now thinking that's not necessary??

The first time I saw one, I thought the student might be wrong, but when I got the same story from multiple students ....

In any event, there's no requirement that the student be at least half time at the same school to which they paid tuition or from which they received the 1098-T. See the examples of the high school student taking college classes in the spring and then enrolling in college in the fall, in Pub. 970.

[dtlee]

One school here issued "corrected" 1098-Ts to students twice in one season a few years ago. Now they just leave them "incorrect."

In the past, I had relied on the 1098-Ts to document the name and Tax ID of the school and whether or not the student was at least half time. The school I mention above seems to have no students that are at least half time for any part of last year (although every one of them that I have seen has paid "Full Time Student Tuition" on their bill).