<p>I am wondering if I can just use my own records (for my own 1040) because I don't know that I am going to get this form in time for all of the FA deadlines (one of our schools requires the 2010 1040 by February 7). We live in the wonderful Northeast and my daughter's university has already had 4 snow closings and or delays. All school records have been delayed and I don't know when we will see our 1098T. The school offices closed early yesterday, are closed today and possibly even tomorrow. Stress!!</p>
<p>Does the school post this form online for you to access?</p>
<p>Fwiw, I always just use my own records anyway…nothing about the 1098s we’ve received is an accurate representation of the grants/scholarships/costs for the particular tax year! I don’t remember if there’s anywhere that you have to actually list school tax id’s or not though…hopefully someone who’s started their 2010 taxes will chime in.</p>
<p>No. They are not available online (which I find odd as pretty much everything else is).</p>
<p>D1 gets her W2 online but the 1098T is sent via snail mail every year.</p>
<p>Funny, I know that last year I got DD’s 1098T online. I honestly don’t remember how I did it…but I did.</p>
<p>agree with sk8rmom that the 1098T is not that useful - it often has errors (schools often don’t include the right fees, or include wrong ones, plus there’s the whole issue of “calendar year” vs “academic year”), it has incomplete information (the school has no idea how much you spent on required books and supplies), and you’ll have to refer to your own records anyway.
So just go with your own records - you know how much you paid out of pocket (including books), how much was borrowed (you or your kid), and what the financial aid award was.</p>
<p>(on edit) - Plus, there’s nothing on the 1098T that needs to go on the 1040 (that you can’t get from your own records), nor are you supposed to send it in when you file your taxes.
So - bottom line, no worries!</p>
<p>I know that you can only use tuition, fees and books for the tax credit. So…can you apply funds however you want? For instance my daughter’s tuition, fees and books per semester were approximately 7500 while room and board was about 4500. She received an outright tuition grant for 1900. She also received a stafford loan for 2500 and a Pell fo 550. Can I apply the stafford loan and pell to room and board or do those have to be deducted from tuition? Also we used a PLUS loan for some of our payment. We can deduct the amount of the loan, correct? (I understand the max I can deduct is $4000, so it probably is not an issue).</p>
<p>My children attend the same college and I got the 1098T for one child and not the other. I called the school and was told I would not get one for the other child because of scholarship and grant. I had to take out a fed loan for both children. Now one child is in the first year got that 1098T the other child is in her 3rd year didnt get the 1098T. Should I have have received one for both children???</p>
<p>The school said the 1098 information was provided to the IRS - so, with the increased linkage between the FAFSA and the IRS won’t there be complications if the way you answer questions on the FAFSA don’t match up with the numbers on teh 1098?</p>
<p>keylyme,
If I understand your post the only “free” money your daughter received is the $1900 grant and the $500 Pell so with qualified expenses of $7500 subtract the $2400 and you have $5,100 in qualified expenses. Any loans whether PLUS or Stafford are still counted as money you have paid (since you will be paying them back).</p>
<p>If you are taking the American Opportunity Credit, many filers don’t even need to have precise numbers when they fill out Form 8863, as to get the maximum credit ($2,500), you only have to have at least a total of $4,000 in tuition, fees, and books. $4,000 is the highest number you will have to write on the Form 8863. They don’t allow using a higher number than $4,000. That is not a very large figure for many students; a lot of students have tuition, etc. five or ten times higher than that figure. So if your estimate of tuition, etc., or an estimate of scholarships, grants, etc. received minus tuition – if you get scholarships and grants, etc. – is safely well over $4,000, just take the American Opportunity Credit, file your taxes without the 1098-T, and when the 1098-T to arrives just save it for your permanent records. </p>
<p>The maximum credit for the Lifetime Learning Credit is only $2,000, so the American Opportunity Credit will be better for most filers anyway.</p>
<p>I cross posted with NewEnglandMother, and yes, keylyme, the $5,100 figure NewEnglandMother arrived at from your post is well above $4,000, so you could just enter $4,000 for the American Opportunity Credit on form 8863 and get the maximum $2,500 credit and file now.</p>
<p>Yes, I work for a CPA, you need at least $4,000.00 in Box 2 on the 1098-T for “qualified expenses.” He won’t even go ahead & take the Education Tax Credit until the tax client has supplied the form 1098-T. (including me! 
)</p>
<p>How does he handle books? They are not reported on the 1098T and are allowed expenses for the AOC.</p>