Did your mom claim the AOTC?
If all AOTC qualified expenses were paid with non-taxable scholarship dollars, there won’t be anything left to use for the AOTC.
It’s not too late for mom to amend if necessary and student to pick up income.
@Madison85 I gave my accountant receipts that had all the costs of my textbooks. So I don’t think I had to file a separate tax return. Do I have to verify this? Like will IRS contact us or will this come up next year when I do the returns?
Perhaps your accountant is not familiar with IRS Publication 970 and AOTC.
Like we said, if you had scholarships that exceeded the cost of tuition, fees and books, then that is taxable income. If you have to file a return depends on the amount.
The taxable scholarship amount for you is:
total scholarship and grants from 1098T - tuition and fees from 1098T - book expenses
If that is more than $6300 I believe, then you need to fie a tax return in your name. You will indicate that you are a dependent of another taxpayer.
The accountant can figure out if your parent can claim the AOTC. Not all tax preparers are well informed about tax situations involving college students with taxable scholarships and/or maximizing AOTC.
1098-T statements are often wrong, or at least don’t reflect the accounting you are following. For a first year students, the 1098T received in Jan often has the spring semester billing on it but not the scholarships. It’s fine to use it that way, but when you are a senior you are going to have an entire semester of scholarships but no tuition to offset it.
I match the tuition to the scholarships for that semester.
@mommdc @Madison85 If I leave it how it is now, how will this affect me?
If you have underreported taxable income you could get an IRS notice.
Your parent could miss out on up to a $2500 tax refund.
If your income from taxable scholarships was over $6300 (was it? did you determine the total you spent on books last year?), then you should file a return.
Like I said you can then put that amount that was reported on your tax return in the box 44d on FAFSA and it will subtract it.
You and your mother should make an appointment with an accountant to get help with this.
@mommdc I did make an appointment with an accountant and he did not mention anything about this and my mom already filed her return. I gave him my 1098-T and book receipts so I’m assuming I did not go over the $6300. Should I go talk to another accountant to amend her return and file a return? Isn’t it too late to file a return?
You could call the accountant and ask about it. Your mom could amend her return if it would benefit you.
If you know you are required to file a tax return then you should file it. Even if it’s after the deadline.
Did you figure out what the amount of your scholarships minus tuition, fees and books is?
@mommdc I guess I should call my accountant and ask but I don’t know what I should do if he did something wrong. I don’t know if we should go to my mom’s old accountant because this was our first year with him.
From what I’m looking at my records online (my school offers textbook deferment) and what I purchased on Amazon and the Pearson website it’s like $400 I believe, but I’m missing some receipts that were sent to my email and I believe that I accidentally deleted them. 
Well if the accountant had receipts, do you have copies of them?
Check your email trash folder or ask the college bookstore.
@mommdc The other receipts I believe might be from the Spring semester, but that isn’t included in this filing is it?
@mommdc I guess if it’s about $400 that means I would owe taxes on the $417.02 that remains right?? Like with the deduction and the numbers I gave from my 1098-T before.
That sounds about right.
You and your mom could call the accountant and ask if he could amend your mom’s tax return to claim AOTC. If he says that scholarships were more than qualified expenses, ask if you can include enough scholarships as taxable in your income so your mom can claim AOTC (plus the taxable amount you have left after qualified expenses).
If he doesn’t know what you are talking about, try calling the old accountant and ask the same questions.
Have them see if you would be better off to report just the $417.02 on your return, or report more and get the AOTC on your mom’s return.
@mommdc Will there be some kind of fee if I file late? Or if my mom has to amend it?
If you owe tax and file and pay late, there will likely be a penalty and interest due on the amount owed. There is no fee paid to the IRS for amending a previously filed return, but if the amended return shows more tax due and the deadline has passed, the penalty and interest provisions mentioned above will probably apply.
liz1497 - if you should have filed a return with an amount due, just do it now. The worst thing you could do is blow it off because you’re worried about paying a penalty and/or interest.