<p>Thought someone on here might know the answer to this question............
My d received her Form 1098T in the mail yesterday and the amount on the form is incorrect. It looks to us like her college only listed the totals for one semester instead of for an entire calendar year. (D is a full time student.)</p>
<p>If we don't claim a college credit on our tax return, does the amount on the 1098T form matter? I'm not sure I want to go through the hassle of contacting her college and getting the form corrected if we're not going to use it on our tax return.</p>
<p>Thanks so much!</p>
<p>Does your school reports box 1 or 2?</p>
<p>See <a href=“http://www.fs.uci.edu/tra97/faqs/1098t.htm#Box1”>http://www.fs.uci.edu/tra97/faqs/1098t.htm#Box1</a> for school reports “Payments received” on box 1</p>
<p>See <a href=“1098-T Information | American University, Washington, DC”>http://www.american.edu/finance/studentaccounts/1098-T-Information.cfm</a> for school reports “the amounts billed (qualified tuition and related expenses)” on box 2</p>
<p>If you really think your 1098-t is incorrect, just put down the correct amounts on your tax returns.</p>
<p>The 1098-t forms rarely reflect the same figures as the family’s. Use your own records, and just stick that 1098-t in your file for later.</p>
<p>So that you have a better notion of what are qualifying expenses for taxes, see Publication 970:
<a href=“About Publication 970, Tax Benefits for Education | Internal Revenue Service”>http://www.irs.gov/uac/Publication-970,-Tax-Benefits-for-Education-1</a></p>
<p>The American Opportunity Credit can only be claimed in four tax years and only for expenses for an undergraduate degree, but most students will be undergraduates during parts of at least five tax years. If first semester of freshman year was inexpensive, and second semester of senior year is likely to be much more costly, you can wait to use the credit for that last semester.</p>
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<p>Are you saying your D was at the same college for spring 2013 and those costs aren’t included on the 2013 1098T? When were those costs billed and paid, in 2013 or in 2012? The 1098T should only reflect expenses and scholarships/grants billed or paid or credited in 2013, not the academic year. If spring 2014 billed amounts are on the 1098T then the box should be checked that say amounts are included for an academic term beginning the first 3 months of 2014. If this is your Ds first year of college, then it would be correct if only fall semester 2013 costs were included.</p>
<p>I don’t know if this is covered in the links, but the school can choose whether it reports by calendar year or academic year. So, is she a freshman? </p>
<p>We had an incorrect form for one year (calculated on the academic year.) Complicated to explain. The school offered to just straighten out the numbers in the following year’s form.- I thought this would a just add up correctly, in the end. It ended up throwing off the first year’s tax credit and the fix precluded a credit the next year. </p>
<p>Schools can’t choose to report by academic year. What they can do is bill in December and then include those amounts on the 1098T with the box checked that says part of the amount is for an academic period starting in the 1st 3 months of the next year. A school can’t bill in January and then include those amounts on the previous year’s 1098T. </p>
<p>What is important for the credits/deductions though, is when you actually paid the expenses. Even if the school bills in December, if you pay in January the expenses must be used for a credit/deduction the following year. That’s why a 1098T may not match your records and why the recommendation is to use your own copies of bills/online account printouts, cancelled checks or other record of payment, and receipts to figure what expenses can be used for what tax year.</p>
<p>Thank you, everyone. D is a junior. It appears that her 1098T form is only listing the expenses and scholarships from the Fall 2013 semester but nothing from the Spring 2013 semester.</p>
<p>I will use our own copies of the bills and canceled checks rather than use the info on the form.</p>